Agent kingdom of maidenh.., p.13
Agent: Kingdom of Maidenhead Book Two, page 13
It takes me a moment to catch her drift.
“I don’t believe so,” I answer her. “The other two assured me that it wasn’t time for them. I believe it has been long enough that they would know by now.”
“So totally unlike last night,” she states.
I feel myself tense up.
“Really,” I say, not knowing how I feel about that possibility at the moment.
“Mmm, hmm. I’m only thirty-four, so there is a good chance you gave me a baby last night.”
“And that is what you want?”
“With you? Definitely.”
“But I don’t even have a title.” I protest.
“I’ll talk to Anne. We’ll fix that little oversight.”
“And you’re sure it wasn’t just the passion of the moment?”
She shifts over on top of me and demonstrates to me just how much she wants my seed. Not that there is much left in me after the night we just experienced. After I finish, she is still straddling me. Once we catch our breaths, she has an idea.
“Why don’t you have Bit got to the next ball with you,” she says. “At least you’ll see what he looks like when you get there.”
“But I was hoping to escort you to the Grand Ball,” I almost whine. “It’s the last ball of the season.”
“I’d love to go to the Grand Ball with you, but I have unavoidable business in Guillan that week.”
“That’s very disappointing.”
“You’ll just have to take me to next year’s Grand Ball,” she says as she lays full out on me and kisses me.
“I’d love to. As long as you don’t schedule a trip during that time.”
“I had no reason to not to schedule my trip this year, not until last night. Next year, I expect to be escorted to a full slate of seasonal activities so I can show off my new beau.”
“Are you certain we aren’t getting ahead of ourselves?” I hesitantly ask.
“It doesn’t feel that way to me.”
“Me either.”
I start kissing her and roll us over.
“Maybe we should make extra sure about last night,” I say.
She grins and puts her hands around the back of my head.
I wake up the morning after what I call the Duchess’ Ball, fully entwined with Yenjy. This makes any morning special. It’s time to have a serious talk with her when she wakes up. A short while later, she starts to shift around. When she stretches, it is as epic as the first time I saw her do that. I could easily fall completely into her world if I thought she would stay in mine.
“Good morning,” she says.
“Morning,” I reply.
I must have let some of my thoughts seep into my greeting.
“Is there something wrong?” Yenjy asks.
“Not particularly,” I say. “I just feel that I’m going to be unveiling Betsy as one of my personae to Stott soon. If Murmur doesn’t run screaming, it may be time to go another step with her in our relationship.”
“I see. I understand as well. I’ve always been clear that I’m not someone to count on for a permanent relationship.”
“Are you having second thoughts about that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been with you much longer than anyone else I’ve been with. I’m not sure if that is a change in me or if it’s that there are so many aspects to you that you’ve been able to keep me interested longer. I know that no matter what, I really don’t want to leave the penthouse, though.”
“You don’t have to leave. I expect I will eventually be traveling and will need an entourage. One that certainly has room for a doctor. I’m also going to need a lady’s maid, if not a lady’s companion, and I’m hoping Danys will want to fill those roles.
“With my next door neighbor moving out soon, as are the rest of my tenants, once I get apartments and penthouses finished for them over in Central Creek. I will be combining and enlarging the two penthouses, so there will be plenty of room. I’m sure I can justify myself into making my lady’s companion’s ensuite quite luxurious. She’s also going to need lots of guidance in how to fulfill those roles.”
“Mmm, Danys is a cutie,” Yenjy observes.
“She sure is. I’ve no doubt she’d be eager to please an incredible love, as lonely as she’s been.”
“Do you want me to leave now?”
“Don’t be silly. I never want you to leave.”
Yenjy gives a little joyous puppy wiggle at that.
“But perhaps the three of us should start bathing together,” I say.
“Mmm, I can get behind that,” she says with a gleam in her eyes.
“You just want more soft, soapy hands exploring your luscious body.”
“Definitely.”
With that image floating through Yenjy’s lusty mind, I’m glad I have nothing pressing to do this morning. When we do get up, we ask Danys to help us in the bathroom. It takes very little encouragement to get her in the tub with us. She almost jumps in when asked. I have to tell her she should take her clothes off first. I hope Danys is enough to keep Yenjy occupied when the time comes. I don’t want her to leave either.
Yenjy is my lover, but equally important she is my doctor, my confidant, and my primary teacher in how to navigate through the upper reaches of society. Far and away the most important thing she is to me is my friend.
I also value Danys as my friend beyond all of the things she does to keep my household functioning. Having her here also helps hold Charlie here. Even if he isn’t yet my lover, he is my best and closest friend. I really need to find a way to show him how much I value that about him.
I have quite a few patents of nobility from within Maidenhead. Maybe I can figure out how to use those as rewards for my friends. Those patents go along with my foreign titles. As soon as I can clear up the last phase of the noble conspiracy, I need to travel to those foreign lands to have my titles confirmed.
I need to get after the figuring out the particulars of that part of the conspiracy. I’m having trouble progressing, though. It is almost to the point that I need to find outside help.
Charlie already knows about my basement and cellar vaults. Maybe it’s time to let Yenjy and Danys in on the secret as well. That way, they can all help me figure out what is so important about the artwork crates. I currently can’t make heads or tails of it.
I notice the two of them are looking at me.
“What?” I ask.
“We just noticed you were lost in thought and were wondering what you were thinking about,” Danys says.
“Mostly about how much I value friendship. Particularly that of the two of you and Charlie. There are several other friends I have that are important to me, but none of them are as important or cherished as you three.”
I suddenly find myself embraced by two wonderfully slippery bodies. It isn’t until after we’ve had quite a lot of fun with each other that I ask them something important.
“Would either of you be opposed to being ennobled?” I ask.
“Say what?” Danys almost screeches.
“Through actions I have taken, I have ended up with a large bundle of noble patents. I would like the two of you to each hold at least one of those patents as a noble title.”
“Are you trying to get rid of us?”
“Not at all. Exactly the opposite, in fact. The titles I would ask the Queen to confer on you would be client titles to titles that I would hold. That will bind you even tighter to me. They would also provide you with a position and income should something ever happen to me.”
Another warm, fleshy embrace precludes conversation for quite some time.
“What about Charlie?” Danys asks.
“If I read him right, asking him will have him running in the other direction. If I spring it on him in a way that he can’t avoid, he’ll send a death glare my way, then place a brotherly kiss on either my cheek or forehead.
“Since he doesn’t want to admit to himself how much he wants to give me babies, I have to find some other way to bind him to me. I can’t afford to lose him from my life.”
Danys sits down on my lap, facing me. She wraps her short legs around my back. Then she rests the bottoms of her generous breasts on top of mine. Her fingers get threaded into the hair on the back of my head, with the palms of her hands resting on the sides of my head. Now, she has me trapped in an embrace that I can find no reason to try to escape.
“Sweetie,” she says, “you are the only person in existence that Charlie is more devoted to than me. You’d be hard-pressed to find a way to drive him away from you. Even then, he would find a way to serve and protect you from afar.”
I’m so stunned that it is some time before I realize she is kissing me. The three of us don’t get out of the tub until our fingers look like prunes. Dressing is difficult, as it is by turns, a giggling and sensuous affair. Danys has never watched me be laced down to Bethany’s proportion before. Her open-mouthed astonishment is amusing.
Yenjy decides that as our current bath mate, future noble, and future full-time lover, the tiny girl’s waist needs to be trained to be fashionably minuscule. Danys’ squawking protests notwithstanding. The look of wonderment when Yenjy cast her comforting hand on her tightly squeezed waist almost makes me guffaw. Danys starts to preen for herself in my full-length mirrors. She continues to do so with each successive layer. At one point, Yenjy cast a speculative look at my waist.
“Don’t even think about it,” I snap out.
Her answering smirk stays until I wrap one of my old waist nippers around her and start tightening it.
“What are you doing?” She demands.
“A noblewoman must always be fashionable corseted in public,” I say, throwing her words from months ago back at her. “You don’t have a lifetime of training, so we need to make your body and mind believe and react like you have.”
I love my memory. I can’t resist kissing her suddenly quivering lower lip. We stay kissing each other until Danys maliciously props her knee against Yenjy’s back and pulls on the nipper’s laces with all the force her mini-might can achieve. Our new lady’s maid is able to fully close Yenjy’s new/used corset with more squawking on the healer’s part.
“Don’t be such a baby,” I say. “It’s only a four-inch reduction. You should have no issues with that. Particularly with your more voluptuous body.”
“But I can’t cast the comforting hands spell on myself,” Yenjy wails.
“So Danys and you should look to hire a maid or two who does have the ability. If they don’t have the spell itself, I’m sure you can teach them. Every noblewoman should have a wonderful maid,” I say as I kiss Danys.
“But I’m not a noblewoman.”
“You should be ready for it before it happens. I see it as inevitable for you, desired or not.”
More of her own words to throw back at her.
“When we visit Miss Millie today, you should enquire with her about hiring more maids,” I tell her. “The two of you have been overworked with all of the friends I’ve been bringing home from the balls. I’m certain more help would be nice for you. Of course, soon, the two of you may be attending balls instead of serving those who do. I’m sure we can find room in the household budget for more staff.”
“What is our household budget?” Dany asks.
“Don’t be silly is the best I can say at this point.”
“What would you consider silly?”
“I plan on showing you both something after lunch that should help you with that definition. Speaking of lunch, I expect Charlie is getting anxious.”
Lunch turns out to be a very lighthearted affair. I didn’t realize how isolated Danys had been feeling. She never realized how much I relied on her to keep my home a home or how much I consider her a friend. Yenjy and I discussed Murmur with her and what may be happening in my life because of it. While she very much enjoyed this morning, as with me, it is my friendship she cherishes.
With his sister being so much happier, Charlie seems to have had a weight removed from his massive shoulders. I’m coming to understand that I haven’t been paying nearly enough attention to the emotional welfare of my family. Even Yenjy has me confused.
She seems very much conflicted about not having me as her lover. Does she have more feelings for me than either one of us is willing to acknowledge? Should I back away from Murmur and plan my life around Yenjy? Is Muns going to play a part in our lives going forward?
I shake my head and banish those thoughts for now. I get back into the spirit of our family lunch together. After we eat, I take everyone down to the basement. I’m glad I finally had the elevator fixed. Going down all of those stairs in Bethany’s nine-inch stilts has always been something of a tribulation.
I have to admit that without Yenjy’s immersive training, it would likely have been impossible. I really feel like I’m five-eleven, not five-two and wearing absurdly high heels. I now just have to move more stately as Bethany to not break my ankles. Other than that, I move nearly the same as I do as Bit.
I finally show Danys and Yenjy the vault portion of my basement. Danys is in awe of the wealth displayed in here. Yenjy just raises an eyebrow, until she starts to see the paintings. Then, she goes into salivating mode. It seems she is something of an art aficionado and says they are all old masters. Each of them could be worth millions on their own.
When I take them down to the cellar vault, they are both dazzled by the massive amount of riches just sitting on the shelves. Danys starts to get a little pale and wobbly when I tell them how much I have in the bank. Then the girls see the jewelry, and they start throwing puppy-dog eyes my way.
“I can’t allow any of this jewelry to be seen in public until it has been altered from its current appearance,” I say. “If anyone sees it, and they can determine where it came from, I could spend a fair part of the rest of my life in gaol.”
Shortly after that I shoo them back up to the basement. I have the noble’s paperwork that I didn’t send to Stott’s team spread across the counting table.
“What’s all this?” Danys asks.
“Somewhere in here are clues about the last part of the noble conspiracy,” I reply. “This paperwork that came out of the artwork crates must play into it somehow. It just all seems incomplete, and I haven’t been able to make heads or tails out of it.”
After about ten minutes, Yenjy gets distracted by the paintings arrayed around us. I eventually see a puzzled look on her face.
“What is troubling you, Yenjy?” I ask.
“I’m not used to seeing paper dust barriers on the back of the frames of oil on canvas paintings,” Yenjy replies. “It’s not even very well attached, see.”
She lightly pulls on one corner, and it easily comes free of its frame as she says this. As it folds over, I see writing on the inside of it.
“Wait!” I caution. “Can you carefully remove the paper fully from the frame without damaging it?”
“Easily.”
“Just do it carefully, please. The information on the inside of it could be invaluable.”
After she gets it off, we see that it is mostly a map and the writing I saw is a legend for the map. This one is written in Anders. Someone is trying very hard to look like Anderslan is at the heart of everything. Maybe too hard. I’m starting to get a suspicion about that.
There are also additional sheets of paper wedged in between the canvas and the frame. They come out easily enough, as well.
“Please carefully remove all of the paper backing off of the frames,” I direct. “Pull the papers out, but keep everything with the painting they came from until I can take a good look at it all and catalog it all.”
It only takes me a short while to determine that the paperwork doesn’t go with the maps. I have all of the art propped around the room and have the papers placed on the shelves behind them. I start in with the maps, quickly realizing there are three of them.
I soon recognize that the one that is far and away the biggest is a map of Maidenhead City. It takes me some time to get it all sorted out. It is so large that we need to use the artwork cases as temporary tables. We use two of the crates as legs and set one of the covers on top of them to act as the tabletop.
It takes a while to get it all spread out. The other two smaller maps are of our two biggest naval ports outside of the city. The biggest port our nation has is here in the city, and it is marked out in detail on the big map. The royal promenade is carefully marked as well. I see there are unlabeled markings all along it, as well as in the naval bases.
It looks like a reviewing stand in the royal square of the palace district is well-marked, too. The only celebration coming up, where I know there will be a reviewing stand, is the Queen’s ten-year jubilee. It is scheduled to happen next winter on her twenty-eighth birthday. The processional route from the palace to the cathedral of the throne’s patron goddess is marked out as well.
I start focusing intently on the paperwork that was inside the paintings and it begins to paint a general picture, no pun intended. As I get the paperwork organized, the general shape of the plan slowly comes into focus. I’m so intent on my researching that I lose track of time until Charlie takes a piece of paper out of my hand and puts a plate of food in front of me. I look around and don’t see the other two.
“They left hours ago,” Charlie says. “Thank you for including Danys. I feel she’s been lost for quite some time. You showed her today that she has a home.”
“I just became aware this morning that I’ve never let her know how much I value her friendship or her contributions to keeping our household together,” I say.
“So what are you finding here?”
“A major conspiracy designed to bring our country to its knees. I don’t have all of the details yet, but it is bad.”
“Wouldn’t you taking all of this from them stop their plans?”
“I don’t think so. This isn’t all of the information. With what I have here, there has to be other information streams entering the country. We may not be able to stop the conspiracy without more information.”
With that, I start to think about the paperwork I took from Alber Maines and the nobles. The stuff I haven’t turned in to Stott is still on the shelves here.
