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“You sent for me, my lady?” She nervously grips onto the long sleeves of her robes, standing at the door to the royal bedchambers.
“Yizhuo,” a silky voice calls from the shadows, the room only lit by a lantern. “Come in, and do shut the door behind you.”
“Yes, m-my lady,” Yizhuo trembles so slightly as she closes the heavy door behind her, the sound of it shutting with a weighty thud. She glides elegantly across the marble floors where her queen waits for her, seated at her dresser, staring long and hard at her own reflection.
Even in the dim light of the evening, my queen is ever so beautiful, Yizhuo thinks with much more fondness than she would dare to think. She has never once forgotten how great an honor it was for her to personally be in the service of the queen whom she adores.
The day that her position had been elevated, she had been unable to take much food and drink, until her queen had looked at her with an unforgettable expression, telling her that she must take good care of herself now, since she was going to be by her queen’s side.
Now, Yizhuo stares back into the ornate mirror, where an elaborate headpiece rests on her queen’s head. This is where she can be her most vulnerable, where she could forget about everything else outside these walls.
“Can you brush my hair for me?” Karina whispers, expression almost blank. Yizhuo swallows and nods. She has done this many times, but each time she does this it feels like the first. Her fingers always trembled around the handle of the hairbrush, and shook when she attempted to remove the headpiece from the top of Karina’s head.
She removes the pins slowly, setting them down on the dresser. Finally, she releases Karina’s hair from its braids, and it cascades down her shoulders and her back. Yizhuo resists the urge to let her jaw fall agape. Karina hands her the brush with much patience, and Yizhuo holds a handful of her hair, slowly running the bristles through the strands as if each strand had been strewn from gold.
Silence passes for a moment between them. Yizhuo knows that her queen does enjoy bouts of silence amidst the noise that took up most of her days, where she had to sit through long council meetings, and listen to the requests of her subjects. She alternates between focusing on brushing Karina’s hair, and studying her expression in the mirror. Yizhuo has slowly come to learn the slightest change of expressions from Karina, reading her moods.
It seems that today she does not seem too tense, Yizhuo thinks as Karina appears to be staring back at her reflection on the mirror.
“Was your day...pleasant, my lady?” Yizhuo whispers, gently undoing some strands of hair that had gotten knotted. Karina heaves a long sigh, before shutting her eyes for a brief moment.
“It was...the same, as most days. However the council is flippant as ever, always pushing for the most unreasonable things. All those men, scouring for power, clinging on to their posts as if dangling by a thread,” she mutters, tilting her head to let Yizhuo brush the other side of her head. Yizhuo makes a small noise of assent.
Karina’s ascent had not been a simple one. She had risen to power due to the abdication of her uncle, who was far in age and poor in health. He had seen Karina’s potential, her icy ambition and steel resolve even at her young age that would make her a most suitable queen. The council had wanted a regent installed under the guise of assisting her, but Karina was sharp enough to know better. She ensured that she had no external influence, only those she trusted to be in her inner circle, such as the one who served as her uncle’s hand during his reign.
And, of course, Yizhuo.
It turned into an extended game of push and pull between herself and the council. On one day, it would be about the kingdom’s finances. On this day, it was about her lack of a suitor, or consort. Karina had already insisted she would rule alone, to the chagrin of the council. There was also another reason, one that they would not know and would never know.
Yizhuo sets down the hairbrush. “Shall I ask the handmaidens to have a bath drawn for you, my lady?” she asks, folding her hands together, waiting.
Karina pauses for a moment, before turning away from the mirror to face Yizhuo. She reaches up to cup Yizhuo’s cheek with her hand, warm fingers brushing on her skin. Yizhuo flushes at the touch.
Silence, again.
“Perhaps later,” Karina whispers. “For now, I...I want to rest,” she says, standing up, but keeping her hand on Yizhuo’s face.
“Then your humble servant will not disturb your much needed rest,” Yizhuo says, nervously twiddling her fingers. “I will take my leave and inform the handmaidens.” She is about to bow and politely take her leave, when she feels a firm, yet gentle grip on her wrist. She glances down, seeing the slender hand of her queen, rings lining her fingers.
“I want you to stay,” Karina says, her gaze fixed on Yizhuo. “Stay, and keep me company.”
Yizhuo gulps, but she smiles. “Yes, my lady. I shall. Would you like some tea?”
Karina smiles, perhaps for the first time in this long day. “Yes, that sounds perfect.” Yizhuo bows slightly, before going to fetch the teapot and cups from the side table. Meanwhile, Karina takes a seat at the small table that was used for her to take her meals when she wanted to dine privately.
Yizhuo pours the tea, the fragrance of the flowers filling the room. She pushes her sleeve back, so that the tea would not spill. Karina picks up the cup, taking a whiff and smiling. “It smells wonderful. What is this blend?”
There is a smile in Yizhuo’s voice as she replies, “It is from the blooms that come from my birth home. I am glad that my lady enjoys it.”
Karina smiles over her cup. “Perhaps the second best thing to come from that place,” she says, and Yizhuo’s cheeks burn.
“My lady is excellent with her words,” she says with a shy smile, and Karina laughs out loud.
“You flatter me, Yizhuo,” Karina rests her chin on her fist, tilting her gaze to look at Yizhuo. “If only the council would have half of your genuity.”
Yizhuo looks down to stare at the embroidery of her sleeves. “You are too kind, my lady.” She is caught off guard when she feels a strong hand come to hold her chin.
“I mean every word, especially if it is about you, my Yizhuo,” Karina whispers, brushing her thumb along Yizhuo’s lower lip.
Yizhuo’s eyes dart about, and she wonders if her heart could burst from her robes. “M-my lady,” she mumbles.
“I- Can I- touch you?” Karina asks. There is something else in her eyes now, something that Yizhuo has seen from time to time when Karina thinks she isn’t looking. She had always questioned if it was but a figment of her imagination. How could she, a humble servant, expect to be looked at, noticed, let alone desired by her queen? She had dared not think.
“Yes,” Yizhuo nods slowly, trying to quell the pounding in her chest. “Please.”
Yizhuo would never say no. How could she, when her lady wanted to return her affections?
Karina leans in, her eyes seemingly studying Yizhuo’s features closely. Then, after what seems like so long, she seals Yizhuo’s lips with her own. Yizhuo’s eyelashes flutter. She has never experienced anything like this before, where someone had been so forward with their affections. Karina tastes sweet, like the tea she’d just drunk earlier. Yizhuo thinks it’s the best she’s ever tasted. She reciprocates, tilting her head to let Karina kiss her more deeply.
Yizhuo gasps when Karina’s lips touch the skin of her neck, lightly grazing there. She clamps her eyes shut when she feels a hand snake down her neckline and to the front of her robes.
“May I?” Karina whispers, voice crackling.
“Yes,” Yizhuo exhales, her hands moving to gently wrap around Karina. She tries to slow her breathing as Karina undoes her robes, sliding it off her shoulders.
“Beautiful,” Karina muses as she presses a light kiss to Yizhuo’s shoulder. Yizhuo looks away as Karina tugs down her robe, revealing her bare breasts. Karina gently brushes a hand along her arm, as if wordlessly reassuring her.
No one has ever seen her like this.
Yizhuo makes a soft noise when Karina’s tongue darts out to circle one of her nipples. She tightens her grip around Karina so slightly, the sensation new, but also making her feel warm all over. Karina grips Yizhuo’s other breast, pressing against soft flesh as she continues to lick at her nipple.
“M-my lady,” Yizhuo sighs. “It’s— oh,” she gasps as Karina circles her thumbs over both of her nipples.
“So sensitive,” Karina muses. The remark makes Yizhuo go even redder.
Karina continues to lazily touch Yizhuo’s chest for a while, until she decides to kiss further down Yizhuo’s body, below her breasts, then her stomach. Yizhuo’s robes are now rucked at her elbows, and she nearly gasps as Karina roughly tugs them down.
“Take it off,” she orders and Yizhuo follows, dizzy with all the new sensations. She is now fully naked in front of her queen, and she tries to cover herself with her hands, suddenly feeling small.
Karina pushes her hands away. “Never be ashamed of your own beauty, Yizhuo,” she says with so much gentleness before she plants a kiss at Yizhuo’s hipbone.
“Can I take you to bed, Yizhuo?” Karina whispers against her skin.
“Y-yes,” Yizhuo exhales, the cool air hitting her bare skin. Karina stands up to kiss her again, this time with more hunger than before. She moves them back until Yizhuo feels the back of her knees bump against something hard — the queen’s bed.
“Lie down, Yizhuo,” Karina whispers, and Yizhuo does. She’s not sure what to do with her hands, but Karina envelopes her hands with her own, before moving to undo her own robes.
Yizhuo reaches a hand up, and repeats what Karina had done to her earlier. She lightly pinches one of Karina’s nipples with her fingers, watching how Karina’s eyes opened and closed, her lips slightly parting at the sensation. She cups Karina’s breast, feeling at the soft flesh.
Karina reaches down, hand tracing along Yizhuo’s hip bone before she runs a finger along the hair between her legs. Yizhuo flinches, and Karina laughs lightly, before leaning down to press a kiss to her inner thigh.
“You’re beautiful, every part of you,” Karina says, before touching between Yizhuo’s legs. She slowly runs her fingers up and down, feeling at Yizhuo’s folds. Yizhuo feels a dampness growing between her legs the more Karina touches her.
“A-ah,” Yizhuo lets out a soft gasp, leaning her face to the side. Her hands start to ball into fists.
Karina moves her hand faster, and Yizhuo hears a damp sound as she does. Something begins to pool in the pit of her belly. She tries to bite down on her lip to silence herself, tries to cover her mouth, but Karina brushes her hand away.
“Let me hear you, Yizhuo,” Karina says, before she slides a finger slowly inside. Yizhuo flinches, at first feeling a slight sting, before Karina tells her to relax her body.
She begins to let out desperate sounds as she feels Karina curl her finger inside her. “O-oh,” she manages, slightly arching her back from the bed. Yizhuo whines when Karina withdraws her finger, feeling herself clench around nothing.
“Don’t worry, I’m not done just yet,” Karina murmurs against her lips, before her tongue darts out, circling around the bud on Yizhuo’s cunt. Yizhuo lets out a louder sound, her knees shifting inward. Karina then licks up and down Yizhuo’s cunt, lewd sounds filling the room, while Yizhuo’s fingers curl into the fine sheets, as if it would ground her.
Karina hums against her skin as she licks, the vibrations sending shivers through Yizhuo’s body. Yizhuo glances down, her lips slightly parting as she sees the way Karina’s mouth is swollen, damp with her wetness. Karina’s eyes meet hers, eyes dark with desire.
She leans down again, this time inserting a finger inside as she licks. Yizhuo’s mind is now a haze, her focus only on the new sensations that Karina had been giving her.
The feeling in her belly begins to grow more intense, like a wave growing, about to hit the shore. “M-my lady,” Yizhuo rasps, her body writhing as Karina moves her finger faster, her tongue more forceful.
Yizhuo’s body shudders, and Karina continues to lick and touch even as she’s reached her peak. Karina brushes her hands gently up and down Yizhuo’s thighs, soothing her through it.
“My Yizhuo,” she says, sounding as if she’d drunk many vials of wine, “a beautiful work of art.” She clambers up the bed, her body lined over Yizhuo’s as she catches her lips in a kiss. Yizhuo can taste herself on Karina’s lips, and she moans into Karina’s mouth.
Karina pulls away, running a hand through Yizhuo’s now damp hair. Yizhuo looks back at her through half lidded eyes as her breathing slows.
“Did it feel good?” Karina whispers, tracing a finger along Yizhuo’s collarbone.
“Very,” Yizhuo whispers. “My lady was wonderful.”
Karina smiles, but Yizhuo’s face falls.
“What’s wrong?” Karina murmurs.
“My lady, you haven’t—”
Karina reaches out to clasp her hand. “You don’t need to do what you aren’t comfortable with. I am very satisfied.”
Yizhuo, in a rare show of defiance, shakes her head. “No one is forcing my hand. I want...I want to serve you, my lady,” she murmurs, before gently tugging Karina down for another kiss.
Karina’s mouth quips into a slight smile. “Very well,” she says before flipping over to lie on the bed.
Yizhuo gently curls her hands around Karina’s thighs, before moving them to rest on both sides of her waist. Karina looks at her with a curious expression, watching, waiting.
Yizhuo moves her fingers to circle around the bud above Karina’s cunt, wanting her to feel just as good as she’d made her feel earlier. Karina shuts her eyes, her teeth nipping down on her lower lip, chest rising and falling slowly.
Yizhuo continues to touch her, feeling Karina grow increasingly wet. Her lips slightly part at the sight, mind dizzy at the fact that she was touching Karina like this, that she was making Karina feel good. Yizhuo then slides a finger in, moving it in and out slowly for a while, until Karina makes a noise.
“Faster, please,” Karina exhales, and Yizhuo follows. Yizhuo ponders for a moment, before inserting another finger inside, making Karina let out a sharp exhale.
“Yizhuo, please, please,” Karina pleads. Yizhuo has never heard her like this, her queen reduced to sounds and fragments of words. Karina starts to writhe and curl under her touch, but Yizhuo freezes when she feels Karina grip her wrist.
“Wait,” Karina breathes, her skin flushed pink. “I want to try something.”
Yizhuo nods wordlessly, before releasing her touch and letting Karina lay her down once more. She blinks, wondering what Karina wanted to do, then watches as Karina lines herself over one of her thighs, before resting there. Yizhuo can feel the wetness on her skin, and it feels so different from before.
Karina begins to roll her hips, her cunt brushing on Yizhuo’s thigh. Yizhuo watches the way Karina’s muscles clench as she moves, the way her eyes become half lidded. The bed begins to creak softly between them, and for a moment, Yizhuo is relieved that they have been left alone.
Karina takes Yizhuo’s hand into her own, placing it on one of her breasts. That is enough instruction for Yizhuo, who tweaks her nipple slightly, gently gripping her breast as she moves against her.
Yizhuo watches her skin glisten with Karina’s wetness, and she starts to feel herself become wet again with the sight. She’s about to reach between her own legs when Karina places her hand to her cunt, rubbing her, timing her touches with her movements.
“Yizhuo,” Karina cries out brokenly, “Oh, oh— yes,” and at last, she shudders, Yizhuo holding on to her, watching her reach her peak.
Her strength now drained, Karina bends over, her breathing loud as she lays down to rest on Yizhuo’s chest. Yizhuo reaches to touch Karina’s back, gently patting her soothingly.
Yizhuo’s senses slowly return to her, and the weight of what they’ve done starts to sink in. Her queen had just bedded her, and her likewise.
A fear slowly creeps into her mind. What would become of them now, now they had crossed a line, one that would be impossible to turn back from?
“Your thoughts are very loud, my Yizhuo,” Karina mumbles against her skin. She shifts to lie on her side next to Yizhuo, brushing stray hair from her face. “You have no idea,” she starts, “how much I’ve wanted you, how I wanted to hold you like this,” she whispers.
Yizhuo swallows. “My lady,” she trembles.
“Stay, Yizhuo,” Karina says. “Stay by my side, until our hair turns the color of snow, until my hands are no longer strong enough to brush my own hair.”
Yizhuo’s eyes search Karina’s. “I will,” she whispers. “Always.”
Karina smiles, before pulling her in for a quick, chaste kiss. “I think now will be an excellent time to tell the handmaidens to draw the bath,” she chuckles against Yizhuo’s skin.
Yizhuo nods, her grin bright. “Yes, my lady,” and this time, she tugs Karina in for a kiss, and another, until they both go still, resting in each other’s arms, a pleasant tangle of limbs.