DISCLAIMER: See Part 1
This story is a sequel to the stories “Lord Conqueror of the Realm,” "Queen of the Realm," and "Princess of the Realm." I strongly recommend you read them first because in this story there are references to events that took place in them. Here is where you can find them:
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_lordconqueror1.html
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_queenoftherealm1.html
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_princessoftherealm1.html
The third story of the Realm series "Princess of the Realm" can now be found on an Ebook format as well – for free. (epub, MOBI, PDF) on the Xena Library web site. It is listed under the LORD CONQUEROR OF THE REALM SERIES, so scroll down to the L's.
http://www.xenalibrary.com/ebooklibrary.htm
LOVE/SEX WARNING/DISCLAIMER: This story involves both love and sex (at times some rough/raw play with very mild BDSM elements – all consensual - nothing severe) between two adult women. If you’re under 18 or if this type of story is illegal in the state or country in which you live, please do not read it.
SPECIAL THANKS : My humble most ardent gratitude to the excellent, most brilliant Beta reader Nancyjean , whom I can't thank enough.
Comments, thoughts, questions & feedback : MOST WELCOMED – The more you write me, the quicker I post – I mean it!
warriorjudge2000@yahoo.com
I wish to dedicate this story to my beloved wife, Irina and our unborn daughter.
Part 4
Part 4
When the arrival of Cynna was announced in the Great Hall during the grand banquette in celebration of the birth of the twins, all cheers stopped and all eyes were averted to the Amazon that made her way to the dais with hesitant steps.
Once the initial surprise passed, those well versed in gossip, that knew who Cynna was and remembered, began to shout out insults and other invective words at her.
The incensed Conqueror laid down the lamb chop onto her plate before her and was about to stand up and admonish her subjects for their unacceptable behavior. She was not the only one, for Athena was about to do the same, but the Queen rested a halting hand over her Lord's thigh beneath the table.
"Please, wait, my Lord," she whispered in the Conqueror's ear.
And a few short moments later, it was Sieglinde who stood up and addressed all in attendance.
"Subjects of the Realm," Princess Sieglinde exclaimed and silence fell over the Great Hall. Hearing Princess Sieglinde speak with such authoritative tone of voice was an even greater surprise than the presence of Princess Athena's former mistress. "I will hear no more scurrilous remarks and foul words aimed at my guest of honor – not on this day or any other day. Your behavior is an affront to the gracious Lord Conqueror, your Sovereign Lord and host, and an affront to my Lord and to me. Lady Cynna has committed no offence against me and certainly no offence against you. It is with Lady Cynna's generous help that I was able to conceive and those of you who shame her – shame me!"
Princess Sieglinde's reproach generated shame and regret in the hearts of those who had thrown lewd comments at Cynna, and created profound pride and esteem in her Lord's.
"Approach, my sister," Princess Sieglinde smiled kindly at Cynna and extended her arm in an invitation.
Cynna bore deep feelings of gratitude and unworthiness at the graces shown to her by her former lover's wife. She reached the dais where the Royals sat behind a capacious table and bowed before them.
Princess Sieglinde invited the Amazon to sit at the Royal table, and as soon as Cynna sat down, she begged for Athena and Sieglinde's forgiveness for her past deeds and thanked them for the great honor they'd bestowed upon her.
The festivities continued. All who were present congratulated the Royals and presented them with gifts, including the Queen's sister Lila and her family, Cyrene and Toris.
When the Conqueror left the table to dance with Princess Terreis and Princess Athena with Princess Seiglinde, the Queen beckoned Cynna to sit by her.
"I wish to thank you for the great service you've done my family."
"It was my honor and duty, my Queen," Cynna replied.
"Now, you must tell me what the ingredients of your special potion were exactly, for I wish to learn."
After some hesitation, Cynna revealed her secret. "I must confess my Queen that my potion contained olive oil and some seasoning herbs. Nothing more. I heard of what had happened and I suspected that fear and reservations thwarted her Grace Princess Sieglinde's efforts to conceive. And so I've created a miraculous potion and a tale to go with it that would make her believe in her ability to conceive again. I thought… If she had faith… children will soon follow."
The Queen smiled.
"How very clever," she said. "You have come a long way, Cynna, and I know now you will one day make a wonderful shamaness to my tribe."
"Thank you, my Queen," Cynna replied. "I have already requested her Grace Princess Athena and her noble Wife's forgiveness, but I also wish to apologize to you as well for all the troubles I've caused you and the Lord Conqueror."
"Your actions speak louder than your words, Cynna. You have redeemed yourself. All is forgiven."
After the celebrations were over, Cyrene remained in the Corinthian palace, wanting to stay close to her great-grandchildren.
***
As the seasons came and went, Princess Athena and Princess Sieglinde took pride and joy in raising their children. Athena could not get enough of them and neither could Sieglinde. The Conqueror often warned her eldest against spoiling them, especially Alexia, since she was born to rule and so in need of a strict hand, but she found it difficult beyond measure to abide by her own words.
Sieglinde took it upon herself to teach her children her native tongue and the Queen taught them Latin. The twins were bright and quick to learn. They both absorbed Greek from their Sire and Grandsire. With Cyrene it was nothing but cuddling.
They were inseparable and took great joy in playing with their young aunt Terreis, who watched over them constantly when she wasn't being tutored. Being highborn and therefore differentiated and isolated from others of her age and being coupled with having a sibling who was significantly older than her, Terreis felt fortunate for the companionship of her niece and nephew. For better or worse, she was no longer the youngest. She was now looked up to.
The Corinthian Palace was filled with children's unremitting laughter and all its residents adored them to no end. Many were in the belief that those were the happiest days in the Realm.
Although twins, it was obvious to all that Alexia and Lyceus were quite different from one another. Alexia was stronger and quicker than Lyceus. She was also taller than he was. He took more after his Mother and grandmother, the late Queen Ortlinde, where she took more after her Sire and Grandsire. She was strong headed where he was more amiable; she was willful where he was softer. Both were fearless and bold, but she was more so than he was. She exuded power and he exuded cordiality. Alexia conducted herself with supremacy and confidence and Lyceus was somewhat diffident.
Therefore, she was the first to hold a practicing sword in her hand and the first to be taught to spar, both by her Sire and Grandsire.
During springtime the Conqueror made it a habit to take her family on an excursion to the lake and taught the younglings to fish and swim at least once a fortnight, and when the sea was kind and time allowed her, the Conqueror took Terreis, Alexia and Lyceus to sail on her favorite ship.
During wintertime, the Conqueror taught them all about her military campaigns, all the strategies she employed and the forces she deployed, and everything about her command. Princess Athena taught them to ride and purchased for them the best stallions to ride on and took them with the Conqueror to the best hunting grounds and taught them how to hunt. Terreis proved to be a natural born tracker and hunter, as was Alexia. The Conqueror could swear Terreis was born with a bow and arrow in her hands. Her aims were masterful and admirably precise. Lyceus, however, excelled in fishing and swam like a fish himself. The boy adored the sea above all else and was as good as his sister and even better than Terreis navigating through the waves, currents and tides.
Five turns of the season passed and an act of aggression in the east forced Athena further east then any warrior of the Realm had ever ventured to the land of Japan , and she conquered it in the name of the Realm. Their warriors were fierce to be sure, but what Athena suffered the most from the terrible, relentless longings for her wife and children. She realized she was now in the position to know how hard it must have been for her Sire to be torn away from her wife and children by war and she grew to appreciate her Sire's sacrifices. Now, all known lands under the heavens were ruled by the Lord Conqueror.
Soon after the return of Athena to Corinth , Cyrene took ill. Her entire family stood around her bed when she was beyond the Queen's and the healers' skills and death was near.
Her breath was shallow and quick and yet she was able to speak.
When Lyceus kissed her cold, wrinkled hand, she said to him: "I have loved you as much as my son you were named after. Never be swayed away from the kindness and goodness in your heart, and never envy your sister the burden she will one day carry."
Alexia wiped a tear from her great-grandmother with her thumb while shedding boiling tears of her own.
"My little Conqueror," Cyrene used her nickname for her great-granddaughter, "Let truth and justice guide your rule and forever be true to your heart. Know that you will have my love even after I am gone."
Terreis climbed onto Cyrene 's bed and held her tightly in her arms.
"Sweet Terreis," Cyrene said and smiled a faint smile, "the miracle child… You have a beautiful spirit and you will make a great leader to the Amazon Nation one day. Whenever you think of me I will hear your thoughts."
When it was time to part with Athena and Sieglinde, the old woman took their hands in hers with the last shred of strength she possessed.
"My first grandchild… I never dreamed you would come to be. I know you would lead the world to another golden age. Constantly bear in mind that the bond between your compassionate wife and you is the foundations to everything, just as the bond between your Sire and your Mother is."
With tears in her eyes, the Queen signaled all but her Lord to leave Cyrene 's chamber and allow them to bid farewell in private.
When the Conqueror and the Queen remained alone in Cyrene 's chamber, the older woman extended her arm to the Conqueror.
"Mother," the Conqueror sighed and her voice was laden with profound sorrow as a large lump choked her throat.
"Xena," Cyrene said feeling her strength leaving her body, "I leave this earth knowing that I have given birth to the world's Ruler who is not only powerful but just and benevolent, as well. And you, Gabrielle," Cyrene reached her hand to the Queen.
The Queen embraced the dying woman and her hot tears dropped on Cyrene 's pale cheeks. "You were always a second daughter to me and I have thanked the Gods daily for putting you in Xena's path. It was your love for her that has delivered this world. You've made it possible for me to say that I am proud of her… for the family she has created with you above all things."
And with that she was gone.
When Cyrene passed away, the Conqueror was inconsolable. A grand funeral made with much lamentation and with an Imperial cavalcade took place in Amphipolis, where Cyrene has always wished to be buried - next to her youngest. The Royals were dressed in full regalia. Even the children of the Royal family were dressed in light armor with golden plates over their chests with a lion's head etched in the metal and ceremonial swords on their thighs.
When the funeral was over, the Conqueror chose to spend the night in the chamber she had grown up in, in her late mother's old, somewhat dilapidated tavern.
In her wife's comforting bosom she wept bitter tears. She cried for all the times she hadn't treated her mother with the respect she deserved. She cried for all the harsh words she had ever spoken to her and regretted the time she wasted without spending it with her. She knew she would forever miss her mother's uncalled-for meddling in her affairs. In her wife's bosom the Conqueror confessed her sins freely, honestly and without restraints.
The Queen held the Conqueror tightly in her arms and stroked her long, dark tresses. She offered her beloved Lord her warmth and her comfort wholeheartedly and without judgment.
On route back to Corinth all were quiet and immersed in deep thoughts. The Conqueror and the Queen rode at the head of the convoy; Athena and Sieglinde right behind them. Alexia was perched on her Sire's horse with her Sire's arms holding the reins and encompassing her. Lyceus rode with his mother. Terreis rode on her own horse behind her sister and their servant rode at the back. To each side of the Royals rode a row of Imperial Guardsmen on horseback, carrying with them the Conqueror's banners.
The villagers who chanced their Sovereigns along the way bowed and curtsied before them and decorously and demurely murmured their Sovereigns' honorifics without the customary excitement and cheer with which they had usually greeted them, on account of the Lord Conqueror's mourning.
Death had finally touched one of their own, and so Alexia was the first to break the silence. She turned her head back and looked up to meet her Sire's gaze, and asked, "Is the Lord Conqueror sad?”
“The Lord Conqueror is powerful and takes grief in her stride,” Princess Athena's answer was stern. She meant to imply that they are all ought to govern their emotions.
“Do all people die, your Grace?" Alexia insisted, not yet satisfied.
"Yes," Princess Athena replied with a flat tone of voice.
"Will the Lord Conqueror die?… will her Majesty the Queen!?" Alexia asked with a mixture of dread and disbelief. The concept of death was foreign to her. She had been told from birth that she would one day rule, to be sure, but she was not aware of the fact that her reign would begin only after her Sire and Grandsire's final departure from the world.
From behind her, the Conqueror heard her granddaughter's question as did the Queen, but neither turned around - just listened in on the conversation.
Princess Athena grabbed her firstborn's chin and forced her to look up and into her angry eyes. "Have you lost your senses, child!?"
Alexia did not understand what provoked her Sire's rage. She only knew that she had never seen such wrath about her Sire before.
"But," she began to say and the angles of her mouth began to quiver.
"Hold you tongue!" Athena raised her voice, "How dare you speak of the Lord Conqueror's death!? Or the Queen Majesty's!?"
Alexia was scared mute.
"Heed my words – Never again will you bring this subject up if you ever wish to succeed me," Athena waved a threatening forefinger at her eldest and her eyes were wild with ire.
Alexia could hold back her tears no longer and she began to cry for her mother.
Sieglinde's heart churned in her chest but she knew better than to intervene when her Lord was disciplining her Heir.
"You will cease crying this instant or I shall give you a good reason to shed tears. Control and harden yourself as a proper future Ruler!"
Alexia did as her Sire bid her and clamped her mouth shut.
The sky was red with the setting sun and the Royal convoy prepared to spend the night in a lodge on the road. When they were all settled in their chambers after a quiet supper, the Conqueror ordered Alexia to be brought to her chamber. A short while later came a knock on the door.
"Enter," the Queen said while rubbing her scented oils over her body.
"Majesties," Alexia's nurse curtsied before the Conqueror and the Queen and sent the child in.
"Majesties," Alexia bowed before them, as well.
"Come here, sweetheart," the Conqueror spoke softly after the door had been closed.
Alexia ran to the Conqueror, who was sitting in an armchair by the burning fire in the hearth dressed in her evening attire and a robe with thick grey fur along the neckline over her shoulders. The Conqueror picked up her granddaughter and seated her on her lap.
"I heard all that transpired between you and your Sire on the road today," the Conqueror said.
The Queen finished brushing her hair and joined her granddaughter on the Conqueror's other, vacant thigh.
"My Sire was displeased with me for asking a question," Alexia protested and held her head down.
"Let me tell you something about us Conquerors, present and future," the Conqueror spoke in a waggish manner in order to uplift her granddaughter's spirit, and made the Queen smile widely and her heart overflow with love for her Lord. "We are fearless. Do you know what it means?"
"We are without fear," Alexia replied.
"Quite the sage, you are!" the Conqueror said and rained three kisses on Alexia's head, "We fear no man. We fear no enemy. We fear no army and we fear no god. We do not fear death, either. There is but one thing and one thing only that us Conquerors do fear. Can you guess what it is?"
The clever child thought for a moment and quickly realized she needn't search far for the answer for it was within her. "Losing our loved ones," she answered.
The Conqueror and the Queen were very pleased with their granddaughter's answer.
"That is correct," the Conqueror confirmed and kissed Alexia's nose.
"I fear losing your Grandmother, and your Sire and your aunt and your brother and you, precious."
"And my Sire fears losing us, you and Grandmother," Alexia quickly deduced.
"And us Conquerors do not fancy being frightened and so when we fear, we tend to get angry. It is the fire in our powerful blood," the Conqueror explained.
"So when I asked whether you were going to die, my Sire became frightened and her fear turned into rage…?"
"Exactly so, sweetheart," the Conqueror said.
The Queen observed her Lord and her grandchild and could not help but notice the distinction between her Lord as a Sire to a future Ruler and her Lord as a Grandsire to a future ruler.
"In the future," the Queen said to the child, "refrain from speaking about private matters when our subjects are in our presence."
"Yes, Grandmother."
The Conqueror fondly removed a strand of hair from Alexia's features. "The moon is high and we have a long journey ahead of us come morning. You must go to sleep now."
"Thank you, Grandsire," Alexia said and pulled the Conqueror down to kiss her cheek. She slid down the Conqueror's leg and when she reached the ground she decided to tell her brother all that the Conqueror had told her, for he was in deep distress ever since she'd first presented the disturbing question to their Sire.
"Rest well, Alexia. On your way to your chamber tell your Sire that I wish to see her."
"I will, Sire," she replied and left.
Alone once again in their chamber, the Queen wrapped her arms around her Lord's neck and kissed her lips.
"Had I known I would receive kisses from you for being gentle with little Conquerors, I might have considered being gentler with Athena when she was at that age, my Lady," the Conqueror teased her Queen.
The Conqueror's remark loosened a chuckle from her wife.
"You are too wicked, my Lord." the Queen feigned a frown and touched her lips to her Lord's for another kiss.
The Conqueror engulfed the Queen in her arms and deepened the kiss, sending a caressing tongue into her wife's pining hot mouth.
The Queen sucked the wriggling tongue in her mouth, eliciting deep groans from her Lord. "Being a parent and being a grandparent are different roles and different responsibilities," she moaned under labored breath as she felt the Conqueror's hand cupping her breast and passionately arousing the nipple to a hard erection.
A clearing of the throat drew the Conqueror and the Queen out of their rapidly brewing desire. Panting, they detached and turned their heads to the door.
"Shall I return when you're done in about a candlemark or so or shall I…"
The Conqueror cut through her speech. "You insolent brat…" she scolded her eldest. "A candlemark…!?" she scoffed in good humor, "We copulate all night and we are not sated before first light!"
The Queen found her Lord's boasting endearing. Athena knew it was just another verbal sparing she would have in the never-ending war between her Lord and herself.
"Come in, Athena. Your Sire wishes to speak with you." With a gesture of her hand, the Queen invited the Heir to occupy the empty armchair next to the Conqueror.
Once Athena settled in the armchair, she immediately emitted, "Is this about what happened on the road, Sire?"
"It is," the Conqueror replied.
Athena prepared herself for the berating she was convinced would soon follow. "With respect, Sire, how I discipline my child is my concern and no one else's."
"I did not summon you in order to admonish you. You were right to discipline your daughter. Nevertheless, I wish to offer you my wisdom."
"Well, Sire… I doubt very much that if I was to speak of your death in public or Gods forbid, Mother's death - you would not have been any less harsh than I was."
"No, I would not have been any less harsh than you were. Nevertheless, the child was in a state of agitation. You should have put her mind at ease once in private."
"As you've done?"
"As I have done."
"And what did you tell her?"
"The truth, of course."
"Which is?"
"That you were angry with her because you fear our death just as I fear losing any of you."
Athena's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"You admitted to her that you know fear!?"
"I did," the Conqueror replied.
How relieving it would have been for her, Athena thought, had she known when she'd been a child that her Sire had possessed a mortal's weakness and how easier it would have been if her Sire had shown better tenderness towards her as she had shown Alexia.
Athena rubbed the back of her head. Her Sire recognized the telltale and knew that her eldest was about to say something awfully irritating and reprehensible.
"Truly, Sire, you are getting softer in your old age," Athena said in good spirit and guffawed.
"Mind who you are calling 'old'," the Conqueror laughed.
"Athena!" The Queen joined their laughter, but then her features turned serious. "I will have you know that your Sire still possesses the stamina and the strength of a dozen men and I can only hope that Sieglinde is as satisfied a wife as I am."
Athena's laughter stopped abruptly and her eyes became rounded with shock at her Mother's brazen remark.
And that was the very last time that Princess Athena ever dared razz her Sire in her Mother's presence.
The Conqueror thanked her wife with a minor nod of her head. "Parenthood," she then said to her firstborn, "Is about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last."
Athena understood fully what her Sire meant and the significance and the magnitude of her words. It would be the closest her Sire would ever say to her in the way of an appoligy for all the times she had been generous with her sternness and stingy with her affections.
"Thank you, Sire," she said and the Conqueror knew her eldest understood.
"There is as much harm in killing a man as there is in producing a child. Watch what kind of ruler you are unleashing onto the world."
"I will, Sire," Athena said.
Athena bid her parents goodnight and left their chambers.
As the Queen and the Conqueror entered their bed and dove beneath the covers, the Queen said to her Lord, "I am very pleased with what you said to Athena, my Lion."
"I thought you would be," the Conqueror was smug as she always was whenever she earned her wife's approval.
The Queen took two of the Conqueror's fingers and brought them to her mouth. Her tongue enticingly glided along their length and when it reached their top, slowly twirled around them, feeling on the tip of the sensitive organ the brutal history of the Conqueror's hand and its intoxicating raggedness. The Queen inserted them sensuously deep into her mouth. While she suckled on the hard digits, driving her Lord mad with lust, she took her Lord's other hand and guided it past the crumbling old collar around her thigh to her womanhood.
At the opening, the Conqueror was anticipated with hot moisture. The Conqueror savored the precious moment before delving inside and her breath was stolen away, and when she began teasing the slick, swollen gates to her wife's core, another knock on the door obstructed them.
"This is unacceptable!" the Conqueror's voice roared. "I wish to be left alone with her Majesty!"
No sound came from the other side of the door for a few long moments.
"Majesties," finally came a hesitating cry.
The Conqueror and the Queen immediately recognized the voice of their grandson. They took a few moments to calm their breathing and suppress their desire.
"Enter Lyceus," the Queen called out to him.
Just as the door was opened, the Conqueror whispered in her Queen's ear, half amused, "And here I thought with our own children finally grown, I would suffer no interruptions before I am about to take you."
"Let these be the only interruptions we would ever suffer, my Lord," the Queen whispered back when in came Lyceus, Alexia and Terreis.
"What is this I see!?" the Conqueror was astounded by the sight of the precession of children walking into her chamber.
"What is the matter, children? Why are you not in bed?" the Queen asked.
"I was afraid," Lyceus said.
"Hasn't Alexia explained things to you?" The Conqueror sounded shorter than she intended to be. There was a special soft spot in her heart for him and her love for him was the tenderest.
"She did, Grandsire, but I am still frightened that you and Grandmother are going to die…" he said, distraught and about to cry.
The Conqueror looked at Terreis and Alexia and saw distress in them, too.
"Listen to me, and listen carefully," the Conqueror said. "Your Grandmother and I have no intention of being late of this world anytime soon. We shall live to see you all grow up, marry and have children."
"Do you promise, my Sire?" Terreis asked.
"You have my word," the Conqueror promised.
The children began to jump up and down and cheer.
"There will be no further talks of death and dying. Now return to your chambers and go to sleep," the Conqueror ordered.
But the children lingered.
"May we sleep in your bed tonight, Grandsire?" Lyceus asked.
The Conqueror took a few moments to think on the request and when her answer was slow in coming, the Queen prompted her, "My Lord?"
"What about our… conversation?" the Conqueror argued.
"Surely it can keep until tomorrow," the Queen answered.
"Very well then," the Conqueror was reconciled. "You must not mistake this gesture for any sort of precedent," she made sure the children understood.
The children cheered again and climbed into bed with their Grandparents and lay between them. The Queen told them about the exciting adventures of the golden lass and the honorable lion in the great land of Chin and the children and the Conqueror all fell into a deep, serene sleep.
***
Soon after, the Royal twins were sent to the Military Academy in Athens to further supplement their education. The decision to send them to the Military Academy in Athens rather than the one in Rome , which was the superior and the more prestigious an institution of the two, was received both by the twins' Parents and Grandparents. Of course none of the couples wished to part with the twins, but Athena had another reason for wishing her children would attend the Academy in Athens and not the one in Rome, where she had been schooled: she did not wish her children to experience the sharp pain of being torn from their family and the merciless sensation of isolation as she had.
Discontented by the idea that her grandchildren would be educated by a lesser institution, the Conqueror naturally seduced all the best tutors, including ones from the Roman Academy, by any of the extensive means she had at her disposal donated the best equipment she could get her hands. She thus turned the Military Academy in Athens into the leading institution, which drew to it only the finest of students from all around the many Provinces.