The cat-girl was panting against my chest, moaning-- she had just cum the third time from riding my cock as I teased her physically and verbally, and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her off of me, setting her down on bed with a few of Asp's other sluts I had hours. She cuddled up against the semi-conscious dog-girl who lay exhausted on the bed-- I had taken the more active role with her.

"Next." A human slave crawled up and started licking at my cock, cleaning it of the cum and cat-girl pussy juice it was covered in... rather pointless, really, but cute. "You really were born to be a slave, huh, slut?" I pinched her earlobe and she squirmed a little and made a muffled little complaining noise that vibrated against my dick, but kept on licking and sucking on it like it was her only goal in life.

Asp was panting on the bed next to me, watching with an amused smile-- she was just taking her first break, we had been fucking her slaves for hours. "I must say, I'm impressed with your stamina... you should fuck me sometime, it would be intriguing to have someone who could last as long as you."

"That is beyond question," I said loyally, "For as a noble, the Princess is not someone I should fuck into unconsciousness."

Asp smirked. "But fucking slaves into unconsciousness with her is fine?"

"First, they aren't real people. Second, you'd be doing that even if I wasn't here."

"...okay, second one is fair. But actually I think you'd get a lot more out of slave ownership if you saw them more as people, as individuals."

"What's the point?" My cock was plenty clean by now. I grabbed the hair of the slave on my cock, and pulled her forwards, thrusting her throat onto my member a couple of times, and then letting go-- and she kept going, of course. "They're just people who have to obey me."

"As Princess," noted Asp, "everyone has to obey me. Should I therefore treat them as faceless and interchangable?"

"No. First, we're nobles, it's not the same. Also we have power, that would be a really bad move on your part. C'mon, Asp, you know I'm a person." I grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, but like... I know every one of my treasures, too. You were just fucking Annie, she used to be a bandit until she surrendered to me, she likes chinscratches and sweets and adores being treated sweetly, she's girlfriends with Amaretto and they like to hold hands when they hang out in the gardens, I could go on... the girl currently deepthroating your cock is Elmessa, she was a commoner with some skill with magic, apprenticed to a knight-sorcerer who was sentenced to death for illegal magic... she could probably kill everyone in this room if she wanted to, she's absurdly powerful. I know the flavor and emotions of every girl in this room, every girl in my harem, how they each shine and sparkle in their own way, and I adore each and every one of them."

I looked down at the slave on my cock, and pulled her back off of it by her hair, looking down at her as she panted at me and looked up at me with wide, submissive eyes. "You give her that sort of power? Aren't you worried what she'll do with it?"

"No, she's a sweetheart... likes cooking for people, talking about books, she often has very nuanced takes on both fiction and nonfiction... You know, your Velitar would be a good girl too, if I owned her."

"Who, Velt? No, she's a bitch. I just keep her around because my mother told me to. Probably a spy for her too, but whatever, not like I have anything to hide." I reached down and pulled the girl up into my lap -- by her waist, not her hair, I did actually like Asp and I wasn't about to damage her property she clearly cared about so much for some reason -- and set her down on my cock, and she started riding me, putting a hand on my shoulder to steady herself. Her inner muscles were squeezing down on me, she was clearly doing her best to make me feel good. "...I can see why you like Elmessa, though, she's seriously trying her best to pleasure me... guess she was made to be a slut."

"She's not really into sex, but she is very into making me happy." Asp leaned over and stroked Elmessa's cheek, and Elmessa smiled at her adoringly. "Such a good girl."

A bit of envy surged through me... here I was with one disobedient idiot slave, and Asp had an entire harem who adored her.

Maybe I should try being a little nicer to Velt, surely it wouldn't take much before the pathetic bitch ate out of my hand and would do anything for me, right?

"How was my day?" Velt stared at me for a long moment. "You had left me chained up with torture devices on me. If your father hadn't happened by and told a servant to release me so I could convey a message, I would still be suffering."

"Oh, right, I had forgot about that." I smiled easily.

Velt didn't seem amused by my apology.

"Such an angry little bunny... why won't you just be a good girl for me?"

A blank stare. "I obey all of your orders to the letter, my lady."

"To the letter, sure." I sighed as her expression remained unchanged. Talking to this disobedient brat was impossible. "Regardless... what did he want to talk about?"

"He left a letter." She gestured to the table.

I walked over to pick up the letter. "What was his mood?"

"Bad..." Velt considered this for a moment. "...worried?"

I ripped the seal off the envelope, and scanned the contents. "...what has been cast in the forbidden runes," I cursed. "He's banning me from visiting the castle or talking to Asp indefinitely!? He doesn't even say why!" I tossed the letter aside and stalked towards the door.

"He is in a meeting this evening, if you will recall. I am sure if you disturb him, you will get in trouble."

I glared at her, and she shrunk back slightly... I was sure she was concealing a smile behind that servile mask. "Don't sound so happy about it. Whatever punishment I get, I'll give to you tenfold."

"That is why I warned you about it, my lady." Not even a sliver of loyalty in her heart.

I strode toward's my father's meeting hall.

Having used Shadow Arts to pass through the door unnoticed, I waited for a proper moment to interject myself into the conversation.

"Wait until the next harvest festival?" Sir Yusa was barely controlling his temper and his volume, his face red. He probably had drank too much again. I'm glad I wasn't the one having to deal with it, he tended to be either hitting on me or getting all weepy about his dead daughter. "We've all agreed this man is a tyrant, and ruining the country! We can't afford to wait!"

"If we move at the wrong time," said my father patiently, "we will simply all lose our heads. It is not a simple thing, to remove a king from power."

...they were talking about treason?

I could understand it from Sir Yusa-- he clearly blamed the royal family for his daughter's death... well, she did die while having an affair with the King, but... that was a perilous road, getting too involved with royalty... but my father?

I listened to a little while longer to their schemings, but it was clear that they were set in their course.

As a loyal subject to the crown, I had little choice but to take action.

"Father," I asked, "why did you decide to choose the route of treason?"

He jumped, and glanced back at me, annoyed, and then his eyes flickered down to my drawn sword. After a long moment, he sighed. "I really shouldn't have had you trained in the Shadow Arts."

"Perhaps not. Would you like to explain?"

"...economically, this kingdom is not going to last two more decades. Hariad is bleeding the country's future dry, and his heir is even more extravagant, and a unconstrained ball of chaos at that. His second child is a bit wiser, but clearly doesn't have the gift of prophecy, or she'd have succeeded at her incessant attempts to assassinate her older sister by now. And our land will fall sooner than that, due to the little luxuries market drying up."

"An interesting analysis. Still treason. Who are you going to replace him with?"

"We found someone with an actual gift of prophecy. Not the strongest but... at least it's real. They can use that for a claim of royal blood." He considered this for a moment. "Perhaps they even are of royal blood?"

I considered this for a moment. Tears were in my eyes. "You don't have enough clout at your table to pull it off. You need more conspirators. And... Asp... Princess Asperia is my dearest friend. How could you make me choose like this?" My voice was calm. My sword hand was trembling violently.

"I hoped you'd understand, when it was over." He sounded resigned.

"You could've chosen any other number of paths... you could have persuaded our King...."

"I have tried, time and time again. I warned the Princess of her excesses, as well... there were no ears for either advice to fall upon. No one likes an owl at a party."

"I..." I couldn't form the words.

"I love you too." He turned away. "But don't hesitate so long when you've already decided to kill someone. Really, those Shadow Arts classes were wasted on you."

My sword slid through his heart effortlessly, and we both collapsed to the ground.

He was silent.

I sobbed.

A private audience with the King should have been exciting, but it was hard to feel excitement as I sat down in the chair across from him.

"My condolences on your father's passing."

"Traitors wither on the vine."

"...indeed. So here's what I can offer you: you paint the picture of your father as a terrible person, say that they were planning to murder other minor nobles as part of a blood cult. I can plant the evidence to back it up."

"But... they were planning treason."

"I don't need people getting ideas right now. People have lost faith in my policies after the last couple years."

"I can't... he was a good father." I was tearing up.

"Other than the treason."

"...other than the treason."

"Your other option," the King said, not entire unsympathetically, "is for your house to lose it's title. Your honor would be blemished for not having spoken up against his crimes, you'd be stripped of nobility, and have to fend for yourself. But you wouldn't have to put your words to the cover story."

I crumpled. "I... I gave everything for you, your majesty...."

"Everything," the King said, "includes using your mouth."

I couldn't believe I had killed my father for this man... I was for a moment taken by rage, and fantasized about killing him... but for so much more trivial a reason than my father. If I killed him, even if I succeeded... why did I kill my father, exactly? Why had I placed my faith in nobility?

But I was trained in the ways of assassins and nobility, both equally ruthless, as a general rule. If I was a liability, the King would eliminate me too.

I covered my eyes with my arm. "My apologies for my unseemly state, your majesty. Your... it is my duty to speak the words you wish. I ask for a night to recover, however, as... in my current state, I am not sure I would be able to be convincing."

He was silent for a moment. "Since you captured or eliminated the rest of the guests, and we have the manor under surveillance, you can stay the night as long as neither you nor your servant you brought leave the castle. I do appreciate your great loyalty. In time, it will be rewarded."

"...I didn't do it for reward."

He walked around the table, and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know. Would that I could be kinder to you. But I will support you in the days ahead, as long as you remain loyal."

"...I can't speak against my father. I can only rely on you, Princess." I was kneeling before her unprompted.

She was half-dressed and sitting on her bed... it was well past midnight, but she looked alert. "You're asking to become my slave."

"I just... I can't. He was always kind to me... he made it easier for me to kill him... and I did. I might have betrayed the crown, but it would mean betraying you too... you're my dearest friend."

"...well, taking in the former noble daughter of a blood cultist does sound delightfully scandalous... and it would be a delight to have you as one of my treasures." She put a finger under my chin and lifted my head, smiled down at me. "You know this means everything about our relationship will change. Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes, Princess."

"You'll obey my every order?"

"Yes, Princess... I just... need to be loyal to someone I believe in. I'd rather be the slave of someone with honor than the vaunted nobility of someone without... sorry, I should not speak ill of your father."

"You should not... but he should not have done with this to you. You're mine now, so you're going to have a long night ahead of you... go fetch Velitar first, though, poor girl has nowhere else to go either... I will teach both of you that it is not so bad being a slave beneath me."

"Thank you, Asp...."

"You can only call that when we're alone now. You know that, right?"

"...yes. Thank you, Princess."

She slid down off the bed and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me on the lips, and smiled at me, somewhere between sadness and adoration on her face... possessiveness, perhaps. I was little more than one of her belongings already... but she treated her belongings well.