Chapter 109 - Guilty Pleasures - R18

The Princess woke up with a deep sigh in Alexander's body. The moment she took the woman in red and the shepherd to the beach, she lost consciousness with the end of the blue hour.

Even after the harrowing day, in which she sometimes thought she was going to lose her strength and even wished to flee to Alexander's body, selfishly, now she wanted to be there.

Who was that strange woman, with her scarlet cloak, and why did she speak that way? Alexa was grateful that she had interfered, but her instinct told her she should not trust the blonde woman.

Sitting down, she realized that on the bed next to her was an envelope, written in Father Agnello's precious handwriting. Balbo wasn't there, but Helga was entering this very moment, with a smile, bringing a tray of food.

She, however, couldn't ignore Magnus and the others were starving and far from comfort, in a strange land. In fact, Magnus was feverish and exhausted from the wreck, as were his companions who survived!

The Princess skimmed the note, which read

A.

HIS MAJESTY MARRIES TOMORROW AND I WILL BE BUSY TONIGHT.

BALBO SAID HE WILL INVESTIGATE WHAT YOU ASKED HIM TO. MEANWHILE, IF YOU HAVE THE WRITING HABIT, PERHAPS CREATING A JOURNAL REGISTERING 'YOUR DREAMS' WILL BE USEFUL. BUT AS I KNOW YOUR NIGHT IS MOSTLY SLEEPLESS, YOU CAN EXERCISE YOUR GREEK AND TRANSLATE THE NOTES I AM LEAVING ALONG WITH THIS LETTER.

YOUR FRIEND AND CONFESSOR,

FR. AGNELLO DI BORGHESI.

"Hmmm," she glanced at the loose-leaf Greek texts along with the letter. They were loose notes, and the person who made them apparently wasn't sure what he was copying. After thinking a little, Alexa concluded the priest made it himself, and he had copied the symbols from somewhere. He didn't know Greek, she discovered, and even she couldn't understand what was written there. Either they were old forms of letters and words, or they were simply wrongly transcribed. But she had no patience for reading or deciphering texts at that moment!

The Prince stood up and greeted Helga. Alexa knew that she didn't know about the exchange of bodies, just thought she was really attending to Alexander, the royal child she babysit during childhood.

"Helga, where's Bastien?" she asked casually, knowing that if Balbo wasn't there, probably the other guard should be. She just wanted to make sure everything was running as expected. Helga informed,

"Outside, Your Highness. He's coughing a little, so I didn't want to stay inside."

After her meal and having all the necessary help from Helga, the Second Prince dismissed her for the rest of the night, saying he would read a little.

When they returned the night before, after the dramatic and tragic scene in the dungeons, Prince Gutard seemed completely convinced of her innocence, and even more! Fascinated by the wounds in the Prince Alexander's hands. Because, of course, they were actually his son's hands.

These wounds, which incidentally, healed a little faster than they used to have in Alexa's actual body. They were still there, under the bandages, but the maiden felt them less painful and drier. She imagined that this had to do with the strange magic that linked her to that body.

Gutard was visibly nervous when they returned, and he left her immediately, without a word. So she had gone to sleep / returned to her body with the feeling that they would still talk about it later. But that wasn't what Alexa wanted to talk to him about tonight, but the wreck.

Dressing, she imagined that she would have a pointless argument with Bastien about letting the Second Prince go to Prince Gutard, and alerting him about Alexander's plans. So, she had to take other steps to get out of the tower.

About half an hour later, the 'Second Prince' was making his way down the outer wall of the tower, relying on the fact that the window was facing the cliff and the sea.

Reaching the roof of one of the lower floors, Alexa stopped to take a breath, and saw her hands shaking. Despite the new and welcome strength to make her audacious stunts, she still didn't quite master the balance of this body and almost fell a few times, which would have proved deadly. Trying not to let her mind doubt her ability, she ran over the roof and avoided being seen by the guards.

An enormous pink moon shone in Holstein's sky tonight, and she had to be extra careful to hide.

Climbing the castle walls again to reach the Princes' wing avoiding any guards, she managed to get in through the window of the room she used to occupy when she was still engaged to Alexander. Her things were still there, she realized, but she didn't really have time to go through any of that. But when she was almost at the bedroom door, she remembered something.

Returning to one chest, she opened it and quickly looked for a useful item at this moment: her purple mask. If seen at a glance, it would be much easier to hide Alexander's identity with a mask. She also took her dagger. She had a knife, but she preferred her old companion of so many years.

Going directly to Magnus' room, which she knew was also empty, the Princess used the secret passage she had discovered to get to Gutard's room.

She didn't know if he would be there, but she figured that eventually he would be back. It was better than trying to find him by the castle.

It was already a problem that the priest had seen Alexander standing, and the way he did it.

Walking down the unlit corridor, the maiden remembered that fateful night when upon entering one of the secret passages, she almost fell into a pit and died. This time, however, she knew exactly where to go, and entered the Lion's passage, cautiously unwinding her hand from the bandages and summoning the Light so she could see the way.

She carefully slid the false bottom of a wardrobe, and saw the luminosity of Prince Gutard's room through the cracks in the furniture. She was hearing indistinct murmurs, and paid attention to whether they were servants or Gutard himself.

The noises were muffled, so she cautiously pushed on the closet door, but from the angle she was in, she couldn't see anything. Leaving as quietly as she could, hidden by the long shadows cast by the candlesticks concentrated closer to the Holstein Sovereign's bed, she had a privileged view of the scene.

Gutard was leaning against the cushions and pillows on the headboard, n.a.k.e.d and with his eyes closed. One of his strong arms was stretched out on some pillows, and his hand made rhythmic movements of opening and closing. The fingers of the other hand were entwined in a woman's brown hair, bent over his lap. The woman was n.a.k.e.d, sitting on her knees while her head bowed to the man in front of her. Her beautiful body reflected on the soft light of the candles, and from the angle it was, the Princess could see what she was doing with her hands and mouth. How sensually she played at swallowing and licking the turgid and l.u.s.trous mast in her hands. She could see the gentle contraction of the Prince's flat stomach, and how his body seemed to want to move forward, when the woman raised and lower her lips, making his d.i.c.k disappear and reappear inside her throat, giving her partner visible pleasure.

'Hm, so it's really like Lady Eudoxia used to say. But it seems to be tiresome ... ' Lex concluded, her eyes locked on the couple's activity. She had never seen this activity in person, although she had inadvertently seen several couples in their s.e.x.u.a.l activities. It was difficult to live with three brothers and also with a mercenary who couldn't keep his belt closed, without having stumbled upon scenes like this. Just this one ... It looked better than all the others. The woman was very adept at giving pleasure, and it was clear no matter Gutard was trying to delay his climax, he was losing his control.

She had no idea who that woman was, she didn't remember seeing her, but of course, it would be difficult to recognize her without clothes.

Alexa took two more discreet steps ahead, still hid by the shadows. She didn't know exactly how long it would last, so she was split between interrupting or not.

Only when she changed her position, did she see a strange glimmer between the sheets. Where the woman's foot should have been, there was something metallic, which softly gleamed with the candlelight. 'What is it, a prosthesis? A bronze foot?'

She watched a little more, until Gutard moved towards the woman, lifting her with one arm and sitting her on his lap. Moist sounds and m.o.a.ns of pleasure filled the room right now, while the two bodies fit together for intercourse.

So Alexa was sure that from the knee down, the woman wore a metal prosthesis, made of bronze.

Her blood chilled. Looking at the bare palm of her hand, she felt the itching and burning, and looking at the woman again, Lex jumped onto the bed.

At the same time, he saw the Sovereign Prince reach for a short sword from under the cushions, pushing the woman aside, ready to defend himself.

But Alexa had no interest in Gutard, but in the woman. Saying words of power, she demanded the Shade who possessed her to leave her physical body, and banished her. The woman passed out, but Alexa felt something strange this time.

Gutard had the sword almost touching Lex' neck, and 'the Second Prince' looked the other way,

"Well, Your Majesty should thank me, not putting a sword around my neck. The rumor was real. There really was a succubus in the castle."

Gutard raised an eyebrow, and glanced at the girl lying beside the bed with suspicion and disgust. Then he pulled a sheet to cover his n.a.k.e.dness, throwing the sword on the bed. Lex relaxed her shoulders,

"Thank you," she said it because he pulled away and covered himself, of course. But before the Princess could say anything about why she was there, she felt an icy breeze enter the room through the window.

And the passed out woman opened her eyes, with a strange glow and a wicked smile.