TITLE    : Emperor's Shadow Ch. 05
STORYID  : emperors-shadow-ch-05
SUMMARY  : She plays the Emperor's Game.
AUTHOR   : averagereptile@lit
DATE     : 2021-11-04
CATEGORY : science-fiction-fantasy
FLAGS    : 
TAGS     : |bdsm|hunted|force|power|maze|whore|royalty|warrior|dominant|submissive|


The blue chamber was larger than any room Kenna had slept in before. She was led inside courteously enough, but the door closed behind her with a loud click and then would not open.

Kenna slid down the side of the wall and leaned her forehead against her bent knees. She felt like wailing, but what good would that do? Her eyes were wet, and her hands trembled. She sniffled and wiped the un-spilt tears away.

Kenna rubbed at her forehead. She drew in one deep breath, then another. Stop. Think.

She'd left the monastery to save Gowain. They'd shared a few weeks together. She'd thought there was a future there, and maybe there was. But now nothing was certain. She had to be prepared to lose him.

She was doing it for him.

Her whole life, Kenna had gotten further by navigating the current than by fighting against it. She took one last deep breath, eyes closed. Her chest swelled. She slowly exhaled, and nodded, and stood.

Time to explore the room.

Its focal point was a large bed with a plush mattress and silken blue sheets. All the furniture was painted blue--the same blue as the Emperor's eyes. The same blue as her dress.

"What an ego he must have," Kenna murmured. She ran her hand slowly across the blue chest of drawers and moved as slowly to the row of windows. Even the floor-length curtains were blue. She dragged one of them open and peered out at the view. The windowsill was surprisingly deep, and cushioned; it was the sort of place one could curl up with a book and a cup of tea.

Before her, through the glass, she could see a half-dozen thin towers of the sprawling palace, and through them, snippets of the great city of Cirabas. She was a good four floors above the ground.

One door led out to the hallway. Another led to a small private study. A third led to a washing-room, complete with a tall mirror and a soaking tub.

She lowered herself onto the bed. These were rooms fit for a princess. What, then, was she doing in them?

She buried her head in her hands and took another steadying breath, trying to remind herself that everything would be okay. She might even win the Emperor's game, and save Gowain's people, and go free. It could happen.

There was a knock at one of the windows. She jumped, startled, and parted the heavy curtain to see what had caused the noise.

Gowain crouched on the windowsill, balanced four floors above the ground. Kenna blanched and fumbled at the lock. He shifted to the side as she unlocked the window and pushed it open. Her warrior slipped through the opening.

"Gowain, what are you doing? Are you crazy? What if you fell?"

"I don't fall," he whispered. "And the guards aren't letting anyone in to see you."

He wrapped a hand around her waist, and Kenna's heart fluttered. She preferred him in his travelling clothes, not the princely attire he still wore, if only because the finery made her feel that she was below him. He looked dangerous, handsome--and like a half-starved beast. His eyes and hands explored her hungrily, as if making sure she was the same woman she'd always been.

He pressed himself against her, hard, his hands roaming up and down her body as his lips sought hers out again and again. He backed her up to the bed, his breathing heavy, and started to draw her dress up over her hips.

"I need you," he said, his voice strained. "I need you now."

"Wait," Kenna said, as she tripped over the mattress and fell back onto the bed, with her legs hanging over the side. "What if someone comes in?"

"You want me to stop?" he whispered.

She glanced at the doorway, then back at Gowain. After this... if she lost to the Emperor she might not see him for a year.

"No," she whispered back. "Just be fast, and quiet." She hungrily tore at the laces of his trousers and pushed them down, freeing his rigid cock.

He reached his hand to her maidenhood, pushing aside her loincloth to finger her. She let him pleasure her only until she was half-aroused, growing wet. As he began to lower his mouth towards her center, she tangled her hand into his hair and pulled.

"No," Kenna hissed. "No time, Gowain, just put it in me." She was desperate for him, her heart hammering. It wasn't pleasure she craved, but Gowain's closeness. The feel of his body on her, in her.

He grunted and stepped forward between her knees. Kenna wrapped her legs around him and gritted her teeth as he shoved his cock inside her. He was too tall to fuck her standing up and had to lean forward with his arms on the bed to get the angle right.

"Slowly," Kenna pleaded. It didn't hurt, but she could tell her body was not quite prepared for how large he was.

He hung over her, staring down into her eyes. Inch by inch, the warrior Prince pushed his full member inside her, then slowly withdrew and began again. He groaned as her arousal grew, her wetness lubricating her tunnel so that his slow, rough thrusts became smooth, easy glides in and out of her tight little body.

"Kenna," he moaned.

"Quietly," she whispered, and pulled him down on top of her, holding him against her. "Quietly, Gowain, fuck me. I need to feel you."

He moaned low into her ear and bobbed his shaft into her faster, their bodies thumping against the bed. Kenna pressed her lips to his neck and moaned against him, then bit her palm hard as her eyes rolled back.

"Kenna," Gowain growled. "Fuck, Kenna, what were you thinking." He pounded in and out of her. With each movement of his hips, the weight of his body drove her wild. She hadn't cared about pleasure but now it was building in her.

"Don't stop," she begged, tears pricking the corner of her eyes. She was swollen and drenched now with need. Her slick, glistening arousal coated his big cock.

Gowain squelched into her with each thrust. Bliss rammed through her, almost enough to erase the reality from her mind.

But not quite. Each overwhelming shock of pleasure was tinged with the sorrow of loss. She pulled him tighter against her, wrapping her legs and arms around Gowain's clothed body and squeezing. A moan tore out of her, and he groaned back. He was so heavy on her chest that her lungs felt compressed.

He started to pull out.

"Please," she begged. "Don't. Please, cum in me. I want to feel you."

"Kenna..." he murmured, his movements slowing. "Are you sure?"

"Please," she begged, burying her face against his broad, muscular shoulder and trailing a finger down his back.

He worked his arms beneath her back, and quickened his thrusts. With a driving force, the Prince drove his cock into her again and again, faster and faster, until Kenna was silently screaming, her teeth bared and her eyes squeezed tight. Then he groaned and froze, his cock shuddering and pulsing in her as his seed burst powerfully out of him.

He stayed on top of her for long minutes, as they breathed together and held each other tightly. At last Gowain pushed himself up, still inside her, and looked into her sorrowful eyes.

"Kenna, my love, what in the hell were you thinking?" he murmured. "Going to him..."

"You can't let your people starve, just because..."

"That wasn't your problem to solve," he growled. He covered his eyes for a moment, then pulled his cock out of her and yanked his trousers up.

"I know, but I wanted..." Kenna pushed herself up to her elbows.

Gowain ran his hands through his hair. He turned away, then back to her.

"Hell, Kenna! What did you say to him? Why did they bring you here? Tell me you--tell me you didn't sell yourself to him. Please." His voice was desperate.

"I tried," she said, smoothing her dress back down over her legs. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"He refused you?" Gowain said, leaning over her again and staring at her hopefully.

"Not... quite. He challenged me to a game."

Gowain drew in his breath, sharply. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, painfully.

"The game?" Gowain asked.

"Hunstman, he called it."

Gowain swore and let go of her. He pushed off the bed and turned away again, pacing the length of the chamber and running his hands through his hair. He at last stopped at one of the other windows, folding his arms and glaring out of it.

"Do you know it?" Kenna asked. She stood to come up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "How do I win?"

"You don't," he said hoarsely. "You don't, Kenna." He closed his eyes and sighed. "He just wants to hunt you down like a frightened rabbit before he has his fun with you. You can't win."

"Then at least your people will be better off," she said gently.

"What are the terms? What did you gamble?"

"If I win, you get the money and I go free. I lose, you get a thousand aurels each time I lie with him. He says that's about a year until you have what you need."

"No," Gowain said slowly. He turned to Kenna and looked at her with tired eyes. "No, please. I don't want the money. Not if that's how you have to earn it, Kenna. Please just... just come back to Elios with me. I'll find another way."

"It's not so bad," she assured him. "I want to help you. Let me help you. And it's only a year. So afterwards, I could come to Elios, and..."

"If you want to be with me, come be with me. But don't... don't do this."

"Gowain. You said you'd do anything to help your people." He was being unreasonable. It was just sex; it was just a year.

"Not this. Please not this." He gripped her by the shoulders. "We can leave, tonight. I'll come back when it's dark; I'll carry you down the wall. Leave Cirabas. He won't follow. In a few months he probably won't even remember. You'll be safe in Elios. I'll find another way. We can..." his voice faltered.

"No, Gowain," Kenna said. "I've made my decision. Even if I lose, it's the right decision. And why the big problem? It's just sex."

"I thought you wanted to be with me," Gowain said, tightening his grip on her shoulders.

"I do," she promised. She rested one of her hands against his broad chest. "Gowain, I..."

"But you've chosen him. Of all the men, Kenna... him."

"I haven't chosen him," she said softly. "I've chosen to do what I can, to help you and your people."

His eyes narrowed; his mouth turned into a furious grimace.

"I don't want your help. Do you expect me to be grateful, that the woman I... the woman I care for is leaving me, to let a man I despise turn her into a fuck toy? Do you expect me to thank you?"

"...No," Kenna mumbled, wounded. "But can you tell me it won't help you? That it won't solve your problems? That it won't save lives?"

"Why do you care?" he cried. "They aren't your people, Kenna! Why do you care more about helping them than being with me?"

"Because," she said, her voice breaking. "Because they are people, Gowain. And because I was a starving child, whose parents did not have the coin to feed her. Because it was hunger that made my family give me to the monastery. So I... so I have to do what I can to help, don't you see?"

"God," he muttered.

He turned his head away for a moment, then looked back at her and dropped his hands from her shoulders.

"Then what do you expect me to do?" he asked bitterly. "Watch him hunt you down? Watch him take you from me, and know that it was my own failures that made this happen? Spend my nights alone, driven mad by the hunger your priests planted in me?"

"I don't expect you to watch," Kenna said. "You can go, Gowain. If I do win, I'll find you. And you can sate yourself on others until then, I'm sure."

His back was stiff and straight, his jaw high and tight. He stared at her, his eyes wavering.

"I wish you had just been a warrior," she said after a long moment, blinking back tears.

He took one of her hands and brushed his lip along the back of it.

"As do I," Prince Gowain said, his voice bitter. "Goodbye, Kenna, and good luck. May we meet again, in happier days."

Then he was gone, exiting out of the window he had come in through. She watched as he scaled the stone wall, her stomach lurching at the thought that he could fall. But he never seemed to waver, his large and muscular body deftly finding its way down the side of the gargantuan palace.

He did not look up when he reached the bottom, but simply turned and walked away. Kenna swallowed back a wave of emotion, and locked the window shut. Then she went to clean herself up.

***

At sunrise, a serving woman appeared at her door with a gentle knock. Kenna opened it with a hand that trembled, and stood aside as the woman came in.

Kenna was exhausted, her eyes puffy and rimmed red from a night spent crying. But it wasn't her fate with her Emperor that she feared.

It was the loss of Gowain. Had she made the wrong choice? But she couldn't afford to regret it. She had chosen. And whatever happened, his people would be saved. She tried to focus on that instead of on her memories.

"Take off your nightgown," the woman said. Kenna obliged with shaking fingers and set it on the bed.

The serving woman fetched a bottle of scented rose-water from the bathroom. She dabbed a bit on Kenna's wrists, and the inside of each thigh. Another dab went at the base of Kenna's neck. With each cool wet spot another shiver found its way down her spine. She kept her head high and her breathing even.

Panic could only make things worse, not better.

And she could not deny... there was a small part of her that twisted eagerly at the idea of losing the Emperor's game. A very, very small part of her that shuddered in delight at the idea of being such a handsome man's plaything, without even knowing what it would entail.

She had hungers of her own, after all.

The serving woman dragged open one of the drawers of the dresser and shook out a silk peach-colored robe. She held it open for Kenna to slip her arms into, then knotted it around Kenna's body. It was long, reaching down to her ankles, but the fabric was so thin as to be almost insubstantial.

"Just this?" Kenna asked, fingering the sleeve of the robe. The woman nodded.

"Advice, if I may?" she said softly.

Kenna nodded.

"Try not to look so glum. You haven't a clue how lucky you are to have drawn his attention," the woman said. "Look around you. You couldn't ask for an easier life. Do as he says and be grateful."

Kenna frowned. Lucky? The luxury around her seemed pointless; how many families could have been fed for the cost of the room's furnishings alone?

The woman opened the door and gestured for Kenna to walk through it.

Through three hallways, then down a long flight of stairs, then another hallway. At last the serving woman pushed open a heavy wooden door to reveal the outside, and a great manicured garden. They descended a final marble stair, the steps cool under Kenna's bare feet, and crossed a lawn that was wet with dew. A light fog clung to the landscape, dulling its colors and obscuring her vision.

There was a tall hedge that Kenna could not see past. A doorway in the manicured green wall revealed another row of hedges behind it. The doorway was a tall wooden arch, covered in vines. A copper bell hung from its highest point.

The Emperor stood at the doorway, awaiting her.

He was dressed in a long black coat, trimmed with gold embroidery. His loose golden hair seemed to glow against the dark coat. In one gloved hand he held the reins to a tall black horse with thin legs and a gleaming hide.

His piercing blue eyes examined her.

"You've been crying," he noted coolly.

"It's not your concern. I'm fine," she said.

"You are still willing?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Then take off your robe" said the Emperor.

"What?" she squeaked. "Do I have to?"

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She cleared her throat and slowly unknotted the robe. Kenna glanced over her shoulder, but there was nobody there except the serving woman. Looking back forward, her face warm with embarrassment, she shrugged it off her shoulders. Kenna gathered it in her hands, holding it over the front of her body.

"That won't do," he said. He reached a gloved hand towards her. Kenna bit her lip and reluctantly handed him the robe, but kept a hand over her breasts. He tossed the robe to the side.

"This seems unfair," she said to him. "You have a horse, and I... I don't even have clothes."

"Who said anything about fair?" he said. "You aren't my equal. You're my prey."

Kenna had no response to that. He tightened his grip on the horse's reins and turned to face the doorway.

"In there is a labyrinth," the Emperor informed her. "It covers two acres. You may hide, or run, or do anything but leave it. You will have a head start of a half an hour. If you can evade me for three hours, you win. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Kenna said.

"This is your last chance to change your mind, Kenna. I will not have you blaming me if you don't like the consequences. When I catch you, I will fuck you, and I will not be gentle."

She shook her head.

"Gowain needs the money," she said softly. "I will play your game, win or lose."

He smiled.

"Then your time starts now. When you hear the bell, you will know I'm on the hunt. Now run."

Kenna took a step into the maze, then another, her arms still folded across her chest. She could feel him staring at her; feel his eyes on her naked backside. She turned over her shoulder. The Emperor regarded her with a faint smile.

Left or right: that was her only option so far. With no reason to pick one over the other, she turned left and broke into a jog. She knew better than to try and sprint for half an hour.

As curious as she was about the Emperor's desires, she still wanted to win. If Kenna won, she could find Gowain and make things right. His people would be cared for, and she'd be at his side. He'd forgive her for her choices, if she won. Everything would be right in the world.

....And there was an element of fear to losing, too. Despite her curiosity about the Emperor, and despite how stunningly handsome he was, the idea of being hunted had her skin crawling. Some deep-hidden prey instinct hammered at her heart.

Soon she was at an intersection: straight, or right. She picked right this time. Then left, then straight, then right, then right again.

She paused to catch her breath. Kenna bent over and planted her hands on her knees.

Then she froze, looking at the ground. She gasped and turned around.

She had not realized she was leaving footprints. Not with every step, but where the grass was worn thin there were indentations in the dirt showed which way she had come.

She choked back a frustrated sob. Kenna swiped a panicked tear from her eye and turned back around, careful this time to place her feet only where the grass was thickest.

More intersections. Each wall looked the same at the one before.

She looked down to find another place to step, and drew in a gulp of air.

Footprints: her own. She'd come this way before and had not even recognized it. But what could she do? She couldn't purposefully mark her trail to know where she'd been; that would only tell him which way to go, too.

But for all she knew, she was near the entrance again.

The hedges were far too tall for Kenna to see over--thankfully, too tall for even a man on horseback to see over. She had no idea how close to half an hour she was getting, but there couldn't be too much time remaining before he was on the hunt.

Kenna bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath.

She began to walk again, this time backwards, careful to place her feet in areas where the prints would show. She picked up the pace, jogging backwards with her head over her shoulder.

Then, the bell began to chime.

Her one saving grace was that it sounded distant. She had not worked herself back to entrance after all.

***

Kenna crouched on the ground. She clamped her hand over her mouth. She tried desperately not to pant for air too loudly.
<hr pg="2" />The sound of hoofbeats thundered past on the other side of the hedge from her. Kenna winced and tried to make herself smaller as a panic surged over her. She wished she could crawl inside the hedge itself, but the tight tangle of branches was unyielding. There was nowhere to hide.

Hunted. She was being hunted. She had not expected to feel such raw, primal panic. But some instinct had taken over her brain, some ancient impulse designed to navigate her to safety.

The hoofbeats receded and she scrambled to her feet, lightly running around the corner to the stretch of ground where she had just heard his horse.

She did not know how much time had passed, but she was certain she'd covered the entire ground of the labyrinth. The only way to survive was to always be where he had just been, dancing in the Emperor's shadow to avoid falling into his path.

It had worked thus far.

Kenna ran lightly down the path and reached the next intersection. She slid around the left corner, eyes darting back-and-forth liked a frightened animals'. Seeing no sign of him, she sprinted for the next corner.

The Emperor stepped out from behind it, regarding her with cool eyes and a faint smile.

But she'd heard him, going the other way.

Or... she'd heard the horse. Because he was on foot.

"There you are," the Emperor drawled. "Clever woman. Very good, Kenna. You've lasted longer than most."

She stumbled back, panting, gasping for air. Took another step back. Her legs shook.

He took a step towards her, then another.

A realization cut through her desperate mind: he hadn't caught her yet. She drew in a ragged, desperate breath, then another. Then Kenna turned and began to run again, as fast as she could on her tired feet, with her tired breath and screaming lungs.

"For fuck's sake," snapped the Emperor. He broke into a run as well. His legs were longer, stronger than hers. And he had been riding, not running. It was only a few paces until he caught her.

He slammed into her from behind, tackling her onto the soft, muddy ground, on her stomach. The impact knocked the air out of her.

"Don't you know when you're beaten?" he growled into her ear.

All she could do was gasp for air, her fingers clutching at the ground in front of her.

"You're mine now, Kenna. And apparently you need a lesson."

She could feel his knee on her back, pinning her down. Her head was to one side, staring at the hedge. She kept panting, drawing in lungful after lungful of air. Her fingers dug into the earth. She could feel the grass and dirt on her naked skin, cool and wet with dew.

She wasn't sure what he was doing until he tossed his gloves to the side and they landed in her field of vision. His coat and shirt followed.

Then his knee rose from her back. She pushed herself up onto her hands, only to be pushed back down again. His hands gripped her shoulders, and his body lowered on top of hers.

She was crushed against the ground, his naked torso laying across her back. He was still wearing trousers, but his cock was iron-hard. She could feel it digging into her ass, its bulge large and distinct.

Kenna shivered, but not in fear. Her heart still raced; her breath was still fast and shallow. But there was a desperate ache between her legs. Her body could not help but respond to the shape of his covered cock rubbing against her. One of her exhales came out as a moan.

His lips brushed against her ear.

"Interesting," the Emperor whispered to her. "Don't tell me you like this? Don't tell me you wanted to lose?" He removed one hand from her shoulder dragged it down her back, over the swell of her ass and down between her legs, until he reached her maidenhood and teased her opening.

"...Fuck," he rumbled into her ear. "You're already drenched, you slut. You have an eager little pussy, don't you? Or do you just like to be hunted?"

Kenna gasped, her breath still coming in pants. She shuddered, pushing her back up against his chest. She said nothing; she did not trust herself to speak. If she tried, she'd only end up moaning.

She didn't understand how she was so wet already. But the heavy fear she'd felt just minutes before was gone, replaced by a throbbing ache between her legs, so powerful it dulled her mind. A hunger.

"No wonder Gowain liked you," the Emperor murmured. He rubbed his finger against her clit, and a clipped cry of pleasure escaped Kenna's mouth. He chuckled. "What a ready little sleeve you are."

He pulled his hand away from her and pushed down his trousers, freeing his cock. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it jabbing against her back like a hard iron rod. He kneed her legs further apart and dragged her hips up off the ground, then found her wet, swollen slit with the tip of his manhood.

"Tell me," he growled. "Is it true his is the only cock you've had?"

"...Yes," Kenna whimpered.

"Not anymore," he hissed, and rammed himself inside her. His thick shaft pushed her lips aside, snugly sliding into her tight opening.

He pushed her down against the ground again, crushing her cheek against the dirt and grass. His big cock forcefully pumped in and out of her, punching into her body. His length was coated with her, and though he'd done next to nothing to prepare her their bodies moved slickly together. Every thrust was pure, overwhelming pleasure, answering a need deep inside her. Kenna moaned and dug her fingers into the earth. She tilted her hips back to deepen his angle.

"Good," the Emperor growled. With a wet smack his body rammed back into hers, his big member squelching into her as his hips collided with her ass.

He wrapped a hand into her hair and pulled her head back, sharply. Kenna cried out, a mix of pleasure and pain as his shaft impaled her once more.

"Whose are you?" he said, grinding his hungry member deep in her sheath.

"I... I'm not... anyone's..." Kenna panted.

"Wrong answer," he said. He yanked harder on her hair, until she had no choice but to push herself up off the ground, yelping.

He let go of her hair. The Emperor propped his body up with one hand and wrapped the other lightly around her throat. He drew his shaft out and then rocked it back in again.

"Again, Kenna," he purred, his fingers closing gently around her neck. "Whose are you?"

She was afraid what would happen if she answered wrong. She closed her eyes, her breath shallow and frantic.

"Yours," she whispered. "I am yours."

"And who am I?"

"The Emperor," she whined.

"And," he growled, letting go of her neck and running his finger down her body. "What can I do to you?"

"Anything?" she said.

"Correct. Good, slut."

He shoved her roughly back to the ground again and began to pump back in and out of her. His flesh smacked against hers. Pleasure darkened her vision as his cock rocked into her. She felt utterly dominated and defenseless.

Her wrists were above her head, her fingers digging into the muddy ground again as she bucked back against him, moaning desperately. His cock was large and thick, but she still couldn't seem to get enough of it. She knew she should hate him, or be afraid of him, but she could not help but enjoy the way it felt. She wallowed in the feeling of his muscular body pinning her down, of his shaft slicking in and out of her center.

She liked the way she felt, weak and powerless in the grasp of this handsome man. She wanted him to use her. She never wanted him to stop.

His hands circled her wrists, pinning her arms in place. The Emperor groaned and buried his head for a moment beside hers, his blonde hair spilling over her face. She could hear his heavy breathing, and a small grunt of pleasure as he dug his erect shaft back between her wet lips.

Then he shuddered, his cock pulsing in her as he emptied his cum into her body.

"Ha," he panted, rising off of her. She could feel his dick sliding out of her. She bucked her hips up against air and whined, but it was gone. She was empty.

There was no weight on her anymore, no man's body pinning her down. Slowly, Kenna looked over her shoulder. The Emperor was standing, pulling his trousers over his cock and gazing at her with his blue eyes.

"And here, I thought a good whore needed years of training," he told her, his tone conversational. "You're quite fuckable, for a pagan toy."

Kenna blushed with shame and straightened. She was embarrassed of how thoroughly she had enjoyed the feeling of his cock inside her body, of his weight on her back. The Emperor may have been a monster--who else had the power to save so many, and didn't care one way or the other?--but she desired him nonetheless. She could not deny it, at least not to herself.

She wished he had lasted longer.

He bent to grab his shirt and coat, then whistled a sharp note. His horse appeared from around the corner. The Emperor swung into the saddle.

"A good chase, Kenna. I trust you can find your way back. I'll send for you again soon. If you want out of our deal, you have only to let me know."

"Wait," she said, struggling to her feet. "Gowain's money?"

"It will be sent to him," said the Emperor. "You'll find that I am a man of my word."

Then he rode off, leaving her naked in the labyrinth, with his seed dripping down one of her thighs.

