Denounced Princess
Sep. 16th, 2022 05:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lissalysikanThis is one of the stories I worked on to try to figure out what I was doing wrong. No erotica! (I know lots of people do not like that in stories, but, usually, it just happens - this time it didn't :) ).
It needs work, but I think I like it so far. I used a bit more description rather than just dialog and action. There are a few places that do have a bit of 'um, that sort of contradicts an earlier statement' that need cleanup. BUT! I feel like I am getting back to writing the stories I want to.
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Mossan smirked at Rafael. “Sorry, sis, but failing to be a woman doesn’t elevate you to being a man.”
Rafe leaned on the practice dummy, catching her breath and watching her brother’s eyes. He never took them from her tiny breasts, apparently fascinated by the sweat running between them. She felt uncomfortable wearing nothing more than knee breeches around him, but she wasn’t about to let him know. Kicking dirt toward him with a bare foot, she faked a laugh.
“So witty, Sire. Your mouth truly does deserve the recognition it gets.” She grinned wryly, “although I keep getting confused. Is it your own ass you lick with that tongue, or father’s?” Grinning wider as his face reddened, she waved him away. “Go play, little boy. Father will live a good long time, and as long as he does you’re nothing but a petulant little bully pulling the pigtails of girls who aren’t allowed to fight back.”
Looking at the sword she held easily, a short sword more commonly used by the city guard than nobles, Mossan scowled. His own sword was merely decoration since he didn’t have the skill to be trusted with one that could hurt someone. His sister, standing in the practice yard nearly naked, covered in dirt and sweat, looked more manly than he did, had a reputation for being tougher than most of the guards, and was known to make women blush and giggle just by winking at them. He stomped one of his high-heeled boots, scowled, spun on his heel, and stamped away.
“The day your father dies that boy is going to have you put to death.” The weaponmaster looked at the princess’s body, “but I’m betting he tries to take you to his bed, first.”
“Me? Pft. Everyone knows I’m a boy without a cock, not a real woman. He doesn’t go that way.” Rafe didn’t really mind her reputation, but she didn’t try to pretend it was good.
The weaponmaster, Rudy, nodded toward the practice dummy, “you should work on your backswing. You’re leaving yourself open to a second attacker. I’ll have to set up another dummy that swings when you hit the first one.” He clucked his tongue, “so you don’t know about your brother’s taste in little girls? The ones with no breasts and narrow hips? He’s already being threatened with being replaced by the younger boy for touching a lady that was, um, a bit below a proper age. Cost your father quite a bit of favor. No, he wouldn’t mind taking your body. Violently would be his preference, but he’d be too scared to risk that.”
“Huh.” Rafael was not the type to get cocky and took the warning seriously. She knew there were guys that liked little or boyish girls, she just hadn’t thought that about Mossan. She’d thought that he went for younger women simply because they were easier to fool. “Father should replace him with Ferol. He’s much more suited to the job. Although I can’t imagine what Mossan would do with his life after that. He’s got no skills, no education, no friends, and a kingdom full of enemies.”
“Die quickly, I’d guess.” Looking over her form as she started working out again, Rudy smiled, “at least you have ambition and drive. Most girls would have just married the first merchant that came along after being cast out like that.”
“Most girls are, well,” Rafael shook her head, knowing that a careless comment could hurt her reputation badly, and her reputation was very important to her future. Considering who she was talking to she let herself finish with “rather tasty.”
Rudy grinned back, “can’t argue with that.” The former princess was his kind of woman, not because of her boyish body, but because of her boyish attitude. The frilly decorative things that usually came from the nobles were useless, in his opinion. Looking her over again, he had to admit that her slim hard body was attractive to someone not looking for a baby-maker. He’d be interested in her himself if he didn’t know she was only interested in women. He finished the day’s lesson, keeping her too busy to chat.
Rafe picked up her tunic and shoes and headed back to her suite. She found the more she practiced being undressed the easier it was getting, and she was beginning to understand how boys could do it. The embarrassment over her body wasn’t natural, it was taught, and she could overcome bad teachings.
“My lady, your father wants you right away. Yesterday, even. Better hurry - he was mad about something.”
Misa grabbed Rafe’s tunic from her hands and helped her pull it on over her dirty, sweaty body while Rafe dropped her shoes and stepped into them. Shoes were always too uncomfortable and restricting.
Rafe waved Misa away. “Mica is on his way to our room - run and get him, then wait in the hall. If Father is mad you don’t want to be there.”
Misa nodded. Being only four feet tall and fifty pounds, any time she got hit she’d get hurt from being bounced off the walls and floor. Barefoot, as her mistress required, she ran back to Rafael’s rooms to get her twin brother.
Patting at her hair to make sure it was still tight in her waist length braid, Rafe pushed open the door to her father’s office.
“You sent for me, Your Majesty?”
King Hienliss looked up from his desk, then leaned back in his seat with a resigned expression on his face.
“Your brother is complaining that you made him look bad today. Naked in the practice yard wrestling with boys?” He was certain the story wasn’t completely true but was concerned about how much truth it might contain.
“That would be interesting, but no.” Rafe tried not to giggle at the images in her mind. “Everyone knows I don’t have any interest in boys - it’s why I’m not in line for the throne. He really needs to invent better stories.”
“He’s doing the best he can within his limits. Understanding a girl that prefers girls is outside those limits, as it is with your mother.” He shrugged. “So, what’s the truth?”
“I was wearing pants and hacking at a wooden dummy with a sword while Mossy leered at my chest. No one was there but the weaponmaster, me, and Mica. No wrestling.” She smirked, “although I might have made him look bad by telling him off, but neither Rudy nor Mica think well of him anyway.”
“Rudy? Oh, the weaponmaster.” Tapping his fingers together, the king shook his head sadly. “I’d have thought by the time you two were in your twenties this childish tattling would end, particularly since your mother denounced you. You’re not a threat to him any more; even if you were to give in and marry you wouldn’t be restored as heir. The denunciation can’t be undone.”
“Oh, it’s never been about his position as heir, it’s always been about being a self-centered spoiled little brat. That was why he told Mother about me kissing the girl in the kitchen - just to be petty. I doubt he realized how nuts that would make her. He gets a thrill out of hurting people, and if he can’t do it directly he’ll do it through you or Mother. He’s even tried to set his guards on me, except they like me better than they do him, and his friends - fickle as they are - wouldn’t do anything because they’re afraid of me and the twins.”
The king smirked, “well, the twins are scary little buggers. Most of the kingdom is afraid of them.”
Magic-users were extremely rare. One or two every few generations, usually not getting much further than making light shows to wow the commoners with the king’s supposed godliness. Two giggling, ageless childlike beings playing catch with fireballs just to pass the time made people nervous. No one wanted to find out what else they could do. They’d appeared the day the princess was denounced and announced they were replacing the servants she would no longer be entitled to. There hadn’t been a minute since then that at least one of them wasn’t with her or within calling distance.
“Father, I try to stay out of his way. I go out of my way to avoid any contact with him or his circle of ass kissers, or even people who would willingly associate with them. I keep a low profile for your sake. I avoid making scandals that would upset Mother. The little toad goes out of his way to find me and try to goad me into, well, I don’t think even he knows what it is he’s trying to accomplish, although Rudy thinks he lusts after my body. Apparently he’s not just a bully but a perverted bully. Anyway, I’m doing my best to be the perfect model of a disgraced princess and he’s messing it up by running around making me look better than him.”
Chuckling, her father shook his head. “Okay. I’ll head off your mother when she believes his shit and wants you flogged. Although sometimes I think you’d enjoy that.” He waved her toward the door in dismissal.
Blushing, Rafe backed out of the room, knowing that once she was dismissed it was a punishable offense to say another word and her father would not let it slide. Outside the office she kicked off her shoes and found Misa and Mica waiting to pick them up.
“Everything okay, my lady?” Misa smiled up at her, wiggling. Wiggling because neither of the twins could ever stop moving, even in their sleep.
“Yes, Sweety. Just my brother being mad at being himself and blaming me.” Rafe ruffled the little woman's hair, then pulled her tunic off and dropped it over Mica. “I need a bath. Last one there does all the scrubbing.” She started running up the hall with the giggling twins close behind.
Snuggling with the twins on her bed after the bath, Rafe felt like a mother cat with kittens. They squirmed and rolled and crawled constantly, even when dozing in their tiny catnaps. Little hands kneaded and groped all over, poking and squeezing sensitive places while toes curled and uncurled against her skin the way kittens exercised their claws. When they were naked they didn’t look much like children, just small brown adults with childish faces. She hugged them tightly, content with her ‘kittens’, as she called them in spite of knowing they weren’t children, and took a short nap.
…
Ferol looked at his brother with disgust. “You actually went to father to complain about Rafe being rude to you?” He tossed a dagger into the target mounted on the wall across from his desk. “You know people ridicule you for that. Why do you keep doing it?” Ferol had long since overcome the shame of being Mossan’s little brother. After eighteen years he had nothing left but contempt for Mossan. He tried not to let it show, since he didn’t relish the idea of needing to kill his brother in a duel.
“She deserves it!” Mossan blustered.
“She deserves what? People laughing at you, again? Father isn’t going to punish her - he’ll ask her what happened and you know she’ll tell the truth.” He knew that as long as he didn’t outright accuse Mossan of lying his brother wouldn’t grasp the implication. Throwing another dagger into the target, he looked down at the four remaining on his desk. “Care to try?”
“Nah. I don’t like the balance of your daggers.” Mossan couldn’t get the daggers to stick in the target reliably. Since the only times he ever tried it was with Ferol’s daggers it was easier to blame them than admit that he didn’t know how to throw. “Father will stand up for me. He has to, since I’m the heir. Rafe will get what she deserves.”
“Like the last time? If I remember right, Father told you to stop embarrassing yourself in front of your guards.” Looking at the target, Ferol sighed. He’d missed the center of the third box by at least a quarter of an inch. Moving to the target, he pulled out the daggers and brought them back to his desk.
“I had the guards wait outside. He said he would take care of it. You’ll see.” Mossan stood straight, preparing to leave. He poked at Ferol’s chest as he passed him. “You’ll see,” he repeated. “Father knows the value of appearances and he’ll punish her for trying to make me look bad.”
Without saying anything, Ferol turned around and started putting his daggers back into their case. While he preferred daggers over other weapons, a prince bedecked in a dozen daggers didn’t carry the same air that wearing a fancy sword did. Ferol knew Mossan was right about the ‘appearances’ thing, even if Mossan didn’t understand what it meant. Considering the likelihood of Mossan being assassinated before he could become king, Ferol protected his own reputation in the all-too-likely event he was stuck with the job. He envied Mossan’s obliviousness at times - but the thought of being that stupid made him shudder.
…
Rafe sighed and let the twins dress her. Every day she tried to resist and every day they won. Wearing fancy clothes annoyed her, but they were right. She had enough trouble with her family without being obviously offensive. It helped that they dressed her in Ferol’s fancy clothes instead of gowns and dresses. The twins helped her put on one of Ferol’s shirts with frills on the cuffs and collar, then a pair of his trousers they had tailored to make fit a bit more snugly than he would have worn them. Rafe preferred having the crotch pulled in, making it obvious she had no codpiece or body part needing the protection of one. She liked getting her trousers from Ferol because he was one of the few nobles who had adopted the new fashion of wearing trousers that went all the way down the legs instead of stopping at the knees. It meant she could wear comfortable shoes and no socks at all, and sometimes even go barefoot, in the main hall. Buckling on a sword, as all noblemen were expected to wear to formal events, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Even with her long braid she could pass for an effeminate man, although five or six years younger than her actual age.
“The ruffles hide your titties good, huh?” Misa giggled. Her own dress was a simple peasant dress with a low-cut bib that revealed she was much better endowed than most girls her size and even many much larger. Being seen as a servant she could get away with dressing in any fashion she wanted as long as it didn’t outshine any nobles or favored citizens. Fortunately, she preferred simple clothing when not allowed to be completely naked.
“A shadow is enough to hide my titties, thankfully.” Rafe liked her body the way it was and did not envy Misa her more developed chest. “You two ready?”
“Always.” Mica checked to make sure the front of his shirt was hanging down far enough to hide the bulge in his knee breeches. One of the things that made life easier for himself and Misa was the common belief that they were children - he did his best to keep the image. Misa’s tendency to let her breasts become obvious sometimes made that difficult, but a little childish chat and behavior usually distracted people. The people that visited the castle had no interest at all in being seen noticing children, particularly servant children, regardless of their actual preferences.
Entering the great hall, Rafe made her way to the table prominently set sideways at the foot of the royal daise. She sat with her back to the daise, facing the hall, with the twins sitting at each end. The small table had been intended as an insult, setting her down amongst the nobles and citizens, when her title had been revoked. Kingdom law did not allow for removing someone from the family completely, no matter how badly they dishonored the name, without exiling or executing them, and required the royal family to eat the main meal of the day in the great hall whenever they were present in the kingdom, to be seen by the nobles and citizenry. The queen, Seranil, had figured that putting Rafe down below the rest of the family would cause the nobles and citizens to see her as an outcast. Instead, they saw her as one of them.
Queen Seranil was not from the kingdom of Kalinis, nor were her religious beliefs. The horror she’d expressed at discovering that Rafe was a boy most of the time and a girl only sometimes was exceeded only by discovering that Rafe had no interest in having relationships with men or boys, but a great deal of interest in women. Most of the kingdom found Rafe’s behavior and tastes odd, but was, in general, amused by them. By the time she became an adult they’d accepted it as just one of those strange things royals did. They were more concerned about the denunciation, since that was not the way things worked in Kalinis, but when it was clear that Rafe was not going to be exiled or beheaded they lost interest in that as well. Rafe became merely a well-liked curiosity. There were tasks to be done and money to be made and the workings of the nobles and royalty had little to do with those things unless they started a war.
Mossan scowled as he saw Rafael already seated at her table of shame, snickering with the strange little creatures that served her. Something must have happened to distract their father from punishing her for her behavior toward him. He considered talking to the queen, then dropped that line of thought. She hated him for being pretty and refined, considering those traits to be womanly, as if women could ever be refined. Her ideas of what made men and women were the silliest superstitions of the barbarians she came from. He’d talk to his father again and make sure Rafe was chastised properly. He sighed as he looked over her body, trying not to admit that she was a very pretty man in Ferol’s clothes - she was a pretty, muscular brute, he was a handsome royal.
Looking down at his sister, Ferol admired the way she looked in his clothes. The only thing that kept him out of trouble with his mother was admitting he found Rafe sexy. He didn’t tell her it was Rafe’s masculinity that he found attractive - being disowned was not in his plans. The kingdom needed an alternative to Mossan, even if it meant Ferol had to go without bed partners and pretend an interest in women. At least admiring his sister was allowed. The queen’s homeland didn’t have any rules against incest, and Ferol suspected the queen was hoping he would take Rafe to his bed. He smirked - if he did it would be for appearances and sleeping. Maybe a little sparring, since he didn’t get as much practice as he’d like and he’d heard she was one of the best, although he wasn’t allowed to go out to the yard when she was there. No one but her twins and the weaponmaster were unless she asked for a sparring partner. He smirked, remembering how angry Mossan was when he found he needed permission to go to the yard to annoy Rafael - and that he couldn’t bring his retinue. That Mossan took the risk of sneaking out there to pick on her once in a while didn't improve his opinion of his brother's intelligence.
The king and queen entered the hall from doors to either side of the dais rather than together from the main doors. It had been going on for so long that most people had forgotten the days when they walked arm in arm down the carpet and only separated to go around the sides of the dais to meet again at their thrones. Barely glancing at each other, they sat on their respective thrones. Once they were seated, their thrones were moved up to their table and the dinner was officially started.
Rafael looked around the hall as food was set on the table in front of her. Much more food than she and the twins could possibly eat, but she knew the remains would be given to the servants and anything left from that would be given to any of the public that weren’t ashamed of taking free food. Most of the nobles barely looked at her - she couldn’t advance their position so she didn’t matter. Some smiled at her, mostly the ones that opposed Queen Seranil’s severity. A few sneered or scowled at her. She smiled at them, knowing they were angry about their daughters being seen with her. The girls would still go on to get married and make babies for them, but the dowry the family would have to pay would be higher.
She ate slowly, paying attention to conversations and interactions. While technically not part of the court any more, her father liked her ability to overhear things and see interactions that might not be noticed from the throne. Spending more time paying attention to the people than the food made it more interesting for her, as well. She knew she was required to remain until her parents left the room, so needed as many distractions as she could find.
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It needs work on transitions between people and scenes, maybe a little more descriptions. I tried to introduce characters better - that might need some work, but it's better than recent works that I re-read and had to trash.
Anyway - I think I'm making progress on recovering my writing.
edit: contrary to statements made in last post, this story might actually continue, and will continue to not have erotica since it wouldn't fit
It needs work, but I think I like it so far. I used a bit more description rather than just dialog and action. There are a few places that do have a bit of 'um, that sort of contradicts an earlier statement' that need cleanup. BUT! I feel like I am getting back to writing the stories I want to.
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Mossan smirked at Rafael. “Sorry, sis, but failing to be a woman doesn’t elevate you to being a man.”
Rafe leaned on the practice dummy, catching her breath and watching her brother’s eyes. He never took them from her tiny breasts, apparently fascinated by the sweat running between them. She felt uncomfortable wearing nothing more than knee breeches around him, but she wasn’t about to let him know. Kicking dirt toward him with a bare foot, she faked a laugh.
“So witty, Sire. Your mouth truly does deserve the recognition it gets.” She grinned wryly, “although I keep getting confused. Is it your own ass you lick with that tongue, or father’s?” Grinning wider as his face reddened, she waved him away. “Go play, little boy. Father will live a good long time, and as long as he does you’re nothing but a petulant little bully pulling the pigtails of girls who aren’t allowed to fight back.”
Looking at the sword she held easily, a short sword more commonly used by the city guard than nobles, Mossan scowled. His own sword was merely decoration since he didn’t have the skill to be trusted with one that could hurt someone. His sister, standing in the practice yard nearly naked, covered in dirt and sweat, looked more manly than he did, had a reputation for being tougher than most of the guards, and was known to make women blush and giggle just by winking at them. He stomped one of his high-heeled boots, scowled, spun on his heel, and stamped away.
“The day your father dies that boy is going to have you put to death.” The weaponmaster looked at the princess’s body, “but I’m betting he tries to take you to his bed, first.”
“Me? Pft. Everyone knows I’m a boy without a cock, not a real woman. He doesn’t go that way.” Rafe didn’t really mind her reputation, but she didn’t try to pretend it was good.
The weaponmaster, Rudy, nodded toward the practice dummy, “you should work on your backswing. You’re leaving yourself open to a second attacker. I’ll have to set up another dummy that swings when you hit the first one.” He clucked his tongue, “so you don’t know about your brother’s taste in little girls? The ones with no breasts and narrow hips? He’s already being threatened with being replaced by the younger boy for touching a lady that was, um, a bit below a proper age. Cost your father quite a bit of favor. No, he wouldn’t mind taking your body. Violently would be his preference, but he’d be too scared to risk that.”
“Huh.” Rafael was not the type to get cocky and took the warning seriously. She knew there were guys that liked little or boyish girls, she just hadn’t thought that about Mossan. She’d thought that he went for younger women simply because they were easier to fool. “Father should replace him with Ferol. He’s much more suited to the job. Although I can’t imagine what Mossan would do with his life after that. He’s got no skills, no education, no friends, and a kingdom full of enemies.”
“Die quickly, I’d guess.” Looking over her form as she started working out again, Rudy smiled, “at least you have ambition and drive. Most girls would have just married the first merchant that came along after being cast out like that.”
“Most girls are, well,” Rafael shook her head, knowing that a careless comment could hurt her reputation badly, and her reputation was very important to her future. Considering who she was talking to she let herself finish with “rather tasty.”
Rudy grinned back, “can’t argue with that.” The former princess was his kind of woman, not because of her boyish body, but because of her boyish attitude. The frilly decorative things that usually came from the nobles were useless, in his opinion. Looking her over again, he had to admit that her slim hard body was attractive to someone not looking for a baby-maker. He’d be interested in her himself if he didn’t know she was only interested in women. He finished the day’s lesson, keeping her too busy to chat.
Rafe picked up her tunic and shoes and headed back to her suite. She found the more she practiced being undressed the easier it was getting, and she was beginning to understand how boys could do it. The embarrassment over her body wasn’t natural, it was taught, and she could overcome bad teachings.
“My lady, your father wants you right away. Yesterday, even. Better hurry - he was mad about something.”
Misa grabbed Rafe’s tunic from her hands and helped her pull it on over her dirty, sweaty body while Rafe dropped her shoes and stepped into them. Shoes were always too uncomfortable and restricting.
Rafe waved Misa away. “Mica is on his way to our room - run and get him, then wait in the hall. If Father is mad you don’t want to be there.”
Misa nodded. Being only four feet tall and fifty pounds, any time she got hit she’d get hurt from being bounced off the walls and floor. Barefoot, as her mistress required, she ran back to Rafael’s rooms to get her twin brother.
Patting at her hair to make sure it was still tight in her waist length braid, Rafe pushed open the door to her father’s office.
“You sent for me, Your Majesty?”
King Hienliss looked up from his desk, then leaned back in his seat with a resigned expression on his face.
“Your brother is complaining that you made him look bad today. Naked in the practice yard wrestling with boys?” He was certain the story wasn’t completely true but was concerned about how much truth it might contain.
“That would be interesting, but no.” Rafe tried not to giggle at the images in her mind. “Everyone knows I don’t have any interest in boys - it’s why I’m not in line for the throne. He really needs to invent better stories.”
“He’s doing the best he can within his limits. Understanding a girl that prefers girls is outside those limits, as it is with your mother.” He shrugged. “So, what’s the truth?”
“I was wearing pants and hacking at a wooden dummy with a sword while Mossy leered at my chest. No one was there but the weaponmaster, me, and Mica. No wrestling.” She smirked, “although I might have made him look bad by telling him off, but neither Rudy nor Mica think well of him anyway.”
“Rudy? Oh, the weaponmaster.” Tapping his fingers together, the king shook his head sadly. “I’d have thought by the time you two were in your twenties this childish tattling would end, particularly since your mother denounced you. You’re not a threat to him any more; even if you were to give in and marry you wouldn’t be restored as heir. The denunciation can’t be undone.”
“Oh, it’s never been about his position as heir, it’s always been about being a self-centered spoiled little brat. That was why he told Mother about me kissing the girl in the kitchen - just to be petty. I doubt he realized how nuts that would make her. He gets a thrill out of hurting people, and if he can’t do it directly he’ll do it through you or Mother. He’s even tried to set his guards on me, except they like me better than they do him, and his friends - fickle as they are - wouldn’t do anything because they’re afraid of me and the twins.”
The king smirked, “well, the twins are scary little buggers. Most of the kingdom is afraid of them.”
Magic-users were extremely rare. One or two every few generations, usually not getting much further than making light shows to wow the commoners with the king’s supposed godliness. Two giggling, ageless childlike beings playing catch with fireballs just to pass the time made people nervous. No one wanted to find out what else they could do. They’d appeared the day the princess was denounced and announced they were replacing the servants she would no longer be entitled to. There hadn’t been a minute since then that at least one of them wasn’t with her or within calling distance.
“Father, I try to stay out of his way. I go out of my way to avoid any contact with him or his circle of ass kissers, or even people who would willingly associate with them. I keep a low profile for your sake. I avoid making scandals that would upset Mother. The little toad goes out of his way to find me and try to goad me into, well, I don’t think even he knows what it is he’s trying to accomplish, although Rudy thinks he lusts after my body. Apparently he’s not just a bully but a perverted bully. Anyway, I’m doing my best to be the perfect model of a disgraced princess and he’s messing it up by running around making me look better than him.”
Chuckling, her father shook his head. “Okay. I’ll head off your mother when she believes his shit and wants you flogged. Although sometimes I think you’d enjoy that.” He waved her toward the door in dismissal.
Blushing, Rafe backed out of the room, knowing that once she was dismissed it was a punishable offense to say another word and her father would not let it slide. Outside the office she kicked off her shoes and found Misa and Mica waiting to pick them up.
“Everything okay, my lady?” Misa smiled up at her, wiggling. Wiggling because neither of the twins could ever stop moving, even in their sleep.
“Yes, Sweety. Just my brother being mad at being himself and blaming me.” Rafe ruffled the little woman's hair, then pulled her tunic off and dropped it over Mica. “I need a bath. Last one there does all the scrubbing.” She started running up the hall with the giggling twins close behind.
Snuggling with the twins on her bed after the bath, Rafe felt like a mother cat with kittens. They squirmed and rolled and crawled constantly, even when dozing in their tiny catnaps. Little hands kneaded and groped all over, poking and squeezing sensitive places while toes curled and uncurled against her skin the way kittens exercised their claws. When they were naked they didn’t look much like children, just small brown adults with childish faces. She hugged them tightly, content with her ‘kittens’, as she called them in spite of knowing they weren’t children, and took a short nap.
…
Ferol looked at his brother with disgust. “You actually went to father to complain about Rafe being rude to you?” He tossed a dagger into the target mounted on the wall across from his desk. “You know people ridicule you for that. Why do you keep doing it?” Ferol had long since overcome the shame of being Mossan’s little brother. After eighteen years he had nothing left but contempt for Mossan. He tried not to let it show, since he didn’t relish the idea of needing to kill his brother in a duel.
“She deserves it!” Mossan blustered.
“She deserves what? People laughing at you, again? Father isn’t going to punish her - he’ll ask her what happened and you know she’ll tell the truth.” He knew that as long as he didn’t outright accuse Mossan of lying his brother wouldn’t grasp the implication. Throwing another dagger into the target, he looked down at the four remaining on his desk. “Care to try?”
“Nah. I don’t like the balance of your daggers.” Mossan couldn’t get the daggers to stick in the target reliably. Since the only times he ever tried it was with Ferol’s daggers it was easier to blame them than admit that he didn’t know how to throw. “Father will stand up for me. He has to, since I’m the heir. Rafe will get what she deserves.”
“Like the last time? If I remember right, Father told you to stop embarrassing yourself in front of your guards.” Looking at the target, Ferol sighed. He’d missed the center of the third box by at least a quarter of an inch. Moving to the target, he pulled out the daggers and brought them back to his desk.
“I had the guards wait outside. He said he would take care of it. You’ll see.” Mossan stood straight, preparing to leave. He poked at Ferol’s chest as he passed him. “You’ll see,” he repeated. “Father knows the value of appearances and he’ll punish her for trying to make me look bad.”
Without saying anything, Ferol turned around and started putting his daggers back into their case. While he preferred daggers over other weapons, a prince bedecked in a dozen daggers didn’t carry the same air that wearing a fancy sword did. Ferol knew Mossan was right about the ‘appearances’ thing, even if Mossan didn’t understand what it meant. Considering the likelihood of Mossan being assassinated before he could become king, Ferol protected his own reputation in the all-too-likely event he was stuck with the job. He envied Mossan’s obliviousness at times - but the thought of being that stupid made him shudder.
…
Rafe sighed and let the twins dress her. Every day she tried to resist and every day they won. Wearing fancy clothes annoyed her, but they were right. She had enough trouble with her family without being obviously offensive. It helped that they dressed her in Ferol’s fancy clothes instead of gowns and dresses. The twins helped her put on one of Ferol’s shirts with frills on the cuffs and collar, then a pair of his trousers they had tailored to make fit a bit more snugly than he would have worn them. Rafe preferred having the crotch pulled in, making it obvious she had no codpiece or body part needing the protection of one. She liked getting her trousers from Ferol because he was one of the few nobles who had adopted the new fashion of wearing trousers that went all the way down the legs instead of stopping at the knees. It meant she could wear comfortable shoes and no socks at all, and sometimes even go barefoot, in the main hall. Buckling on a sword, as all noblemen were expected to wear to formal events, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Even with her long braid she could pass for an effeminate man, although five or six years younger than her actual age.
“The ruffles hide your titties good, huh?” Misa giggled. Her own dress was a simple peasant dress with a low-cut bib that revealed she was much better endowed than most girls her size and even many much larger. Being seen as a servant she could get away with dressing in any fashion she wanted as long as it didn’t outshine any nobles or favored citizens. Fortunately, she preferred simple clothing when not allowed to be completely naked.
“A shadow is enough to hide my titties, thankfully.” Rafe liked her body the way it was and did not envy Misa her more developed chest. “You two ready?”
“Always.” Mica checked to make sure the front of his shirt was hanging down far enough to hide the bulge in his knee breeches. One of the things that made life easier for himself and Misa was the common belief that they were children - he did his best to keep the image. Misa’s tendency to let her breasts become obvious sometimes made that difficult, but a little childish chat and behavior usually distracted people. The people that visited the castle had no interest at all in being seen noticing children, particularly servant children, regardless of their actual preferences.
Entering the great hall, Rafe made her way to the table prominently set sideways at the foot of the royal daise. She sat with her back to the daise, facing the hall, with the twins sitting at each end. The small table had been intended as an insult, setting her down amongst the nobles and citizens, when her title had been revoked. Kingdom law did not allow for removing someone from the family completely, no matter how badly they dishonored the name, without exiling or executing them, and required the royal family to eat the main meal of the day in the great hall whenever they were present in the kingdom, to be seen by the nobles and citizenry. The queen, Seranil, had figured that putting Rafe down below the rest of the family would cause the nobles and citizens to see her as an outcast. Instead, they saw her as one of them.
Queen Seranil was not from the kingdom of Kalinis, nor were her religious beliefs. The horror she’d expressed at discovering that Rafe was a boy most of the time and a girl only sometimes was exceeded only by discovering that Rafe had no interest in having relationships with men or boys, but a great deal of interest in women. Most of the kingdom found Rafe’s behavior and tastes odd, but was, in general, amused by them. By the time she became an adult they’d accepted it as just one of those strange things royals did. They were more concerned about the denunciation, since that was not the way things worked in Kalinis, but when it was clear that Rafe was not going to be exiled or beheaded they lost interest in that as well. Rafe became merely a well-liked curiosity. There were tasks to be done and money to be made and the workings of the nobles and royalty had little to do with those things unless they started a war.
Mossan scowled as he saw Rafael already seated at her table of shame, snickering with the strange little creatures that served her. Something must have happened to distract their father from punishing her for her behavior toward him. He considered talking to the queen, then dropped that line of thought. She hated him for being pretty and refined, considering those traits to be womanly, as if women could ever be refined. Her ideas of what made men and women were the silliest superstitions of the barbarians she came from. He’d talk to his father again and make sure Rafe was chastised properly. He sighed as he looked over her body, trying not to admit that she was a very pretty man in Ferol’s clothes - she was a pretty, muscular brute, he was a handsome royal.
Looking down at his sister, Ferol admired the way she looked in his clothes. The only thing that kept him out of trouble with his mother was admitting he found Rafe sexy. He didn’t tell her it was Rafe’s masculinity that he found attractive - being disowned was not in his plans. The kingdom needed an alternative to Mossan, even if it meant Ferol had to go without bed partners and pretend an interest in women. At least admiring his sister was allowed. The queen’s homeland didn’t have any rules against incest, and Ferol suspected the queen was hoping he would take Rafe to his bed. He smirked - if he did it would be for appearances and sleeping. Maybe a little sparring, since he didn’t get as much practice as he’d like and he’d heard she was one of the best, although he wasn’t allowed to go out to the yard when she was there. No one but her twins and the weaponmaster were unless she asked for a sparring partner. He smirked, remembering how angry Mossan was when he found he needed permission to go to the yard to annoy Rafael - and that he couldn’t bring his retinue. That Mossan took the risk of sneaking out there to pick on her once in a while didn't improve his opinion of his brother's intelligence.
The king and queen entered the hall from doors to either side of the dais rather than together from the main doors. It had been going on for so long that most people had forgotten the days when they walked arm in arm down the carpet and only separated to go around the sides of the dais to meet again at their thrones. Barely glancing at each other, they sat on their respective thrones. Once they were seated, their thrones were moved up to their table and the dinner was officially started.
Rafael looked around the hall as food was set on the table in front of her. Much more food than she and the twins could possibly eat, but she knew the remains would be given to the servants and anything left from that would be given to any of the public that weren’t ashamed of taking free food. Most of the nobles barely looked at her - she couldn’t advance their position so she didn’t matter. Some smiled at her, mostly the ones that opposed Queen Seranil’s severity. A few sneered or scowled at her. She smiled at them, knowing they were angry about their daughters being seen with her. The girls would still go on to get married and make babies for them, but the dowry the family would have to pay would be higher.
She ate slowly, paying attention to conversations and interactions. While technically not part of the court any more, her father liked her ability to overhear things and see interactions that might not be noticed from the throne. Spending more time paying attention to the people than the food made it more interesting for her, as well. She knew she was required to remain until her parents left the room, so needed as many distractions as she could find.
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It needs work on transitions between people and scenes, maybe a little more descriptions. I tried to introduce characters better - that might need some work, but it's better than recent works that I re-read and had to trash.
Anyway - I think I'm making progress on recovering my writing.
edit: contrary to statements made in last post, this story might actually continue, and will continue to not have erotica since it wouldn't fit
