Chapter 27
Alsia left in the morning but promised to return shortly. Her retinue left with her.
“That went better than expected,” Vallis said as they watched the Kinadain ride toward the mountains. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard that they overthrew all the elders.”
“It’s efficient,” Rys said.
“I’d call it ruthless. Something you’d do.” She stared at him. “You didn’t put her up to it, did you?”
“I didn’t have anything to do with her until last night.” Rys turned and entered the mansion. “Don’t take too many lessons from her.”
Vallis jogged to keep up with him. The Lilim closed the doors after they entered, their eyes tracking Rys closely. Nobody else was present.
Now that Maria wasn’t in danger, Grigor took back command of the war front. Fara assisted him. There were movements from Compagnon that suggested something major was on the horizon. Rys wanted to be ready to crush their counterattack, then deal with his enemy once and for all.
“I would have thought you wanted me to be more like her,” Vallis said. “Cold, respected, willing to do whatever it takes.”
Rys gave her an amused look. She scratched her cheek.
“I’m interested in results, not how you act around me,” Rys said. “Speaking of which, how are the preparations coming along?”
“For making you eternal emperor of everything?” Vallis asked.
“If this tiny stretch of land is everything, then I don’t want to know what they taught you at the mage tower.”
Vallis rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s everything to you right now, isn’t it, Mister ‘I can’t leave the mansion?’”
Rys refused to deign that with a response.
After a cough to clear the air, Vallis answered Rys’s original question, “It should go faster now the Barul thing is dealt with and Alsia has approved of you as elder. I don’t need to worry if Maria will drop dead if she signs the wrong document.”
“I’d ask why she needs to sign documents, but…” Rys trailed off.
They both nodded at one another.
“Tyrisa,” they said in unison.
“I didn’t know record keeping could be done so well,” Vallis said. “But she insists on having everything in writing. I guess it’ll be useful when we become larger. I’ve heard of lots of merchant companies practically collapsing when they grow too large, because their record keeping couldn’t keep up with their growing size.”
“As ridiculous as the Empire’s bureaucracy was, it needed to exist because of its obscene size.” Rys frowned at the thought of controlling anything that large. “Too many devils who felt they were owed power. Wealth coming out of their ears. People like Tyrisa keep everything running smoothly, and smarter infernals treated them well.”
“Is that why you let her act like the spoiled bitch she is?” Vallis asked drily.
“I let her act like that because she’s not spoiled. It’s called posturing. She’s trying to impress me, the same way that a powerful demon flexes his raw strength.” Rys stepped into his study. “I know her background. She worked relentlessly in Hell to get where she was.”
An imp looked up from where it was cleaning the desk, then continued with its duties.
“Doesn’t make her less annoying. And isn’t keeping so much paperwork dangerous? We’re doing some questionable things here.” Vallis grimaced. “The elders got caught out that way.”
“You’re forgetting that we’re about to create a nation. Those ‘questionable things’ will become the daily running of an empire soon enough,” Rys pointed out. “We’re going to be powerful enough to not care. Once you’re in charge, you’ll be glad you have things in writing. Saves you the effort of arguing with others over what people remember.”
Vallis scratched her cheek again. “Can’t say I thought of it that way. Anyway, Maria’s coming here now that she’s finished with the Kinadain. Should be here tomorrow. We can work out the rest of the details then.”
She ducked out of the room, leaving Rys to his thoughts.
He had many. Primarily, whether he needed to keep his power as secret as he thought.
Alsia knew he controlled infernals. So did Maria and Vallis.
His words about being powerful enough not to care rung in his ears. Soon enough, hiding his infernals would be more harmful than revealing them.
Once he ruled a kingdom, how many people would care enough to oppose the infernals if they didn’t cause trouble? In his experience, very few. People had complained bitterly about the Infernal Empire, but it had been everyday life for almost everybody. They adapted.
Even so, he needed to be careful. Rys trusted Grigor to keep the demons in check. No reports of rampaging demons had come in, and he planned to keep it that way. The same applied to the Lilim’s desires.
People’s willingness to overlook things they disliked vanished very quickly when they felt threatened. Pillaging demons or wandering succubi could ruin Rys’s plans practically overnight.
His mind turned to his manor. Earlier, he had held off on finishing the design. That felt like a mistake now.
He wandered downstairs, entering the sub-levels. With only a few messages to the Lilim, he cleared out the detached building and marked it as off limits.
As planned, his final design consisted of a hollow square design with a central courtyard. Each side of the square was a separate wing, consisting of a long corridor with rooms off the side. He ensured there was a throne room and a ballroom as well.
The central courtyard was the main attraction, so he filled it with hedges and a fountain. The hedges provided a privacy wall around the central fountain if he or anybody else needed privacy. His bedroom would be next to the courtyard, so that he could easily access the rest of the mansion.
Everything else would be designed as necessary. He suspected a lot of it would become office or residential space. Vallis, Maria, and Alsia would all require their own staff. Then there’d be guards and servants, once he started recruiting people who weren’t infernals.
Somehow, Rys felt that he’d done this a few times before.
During the war against the angels, Malusian had given him a fortress near Marnn. That had remained Rys’s fortress for most of his life. He had stayed in palaces elsewhere, given how often he had been deployed to fix problems in the Empire. But he struggled to recall another time he built a mansion or castle from scratch.
Damn seals and his altered memories.
Vallis intruded on him the next day, while he concentrated in his study. Rys sat at his desk, a ball of flame hovering steadily over one hand.
“You’re getting the hang of it,” she said, after she entered without knocking.
“Slowly. It will be months before I can use it in combat. I can’t even use sendings,” Rys said.
“Those are harder than they seem. I hear that part of officer selection in most militaries is based on how much training is needed.” Vallis took a seat on the edge of his desk. “Like I said, I spent years learning. These days I mostly use magic to organize my paperwork.”
“You have Tyrisa for that now.”
“Please. She gets on my case whenever I let my outbox get out of order.” Vallis rolled her eyes.
The two of them sat in silence for some time. Vallis kicked her legs in the air, watching Rys closely.
Eventually, he looked up at her. “Maria isn’t here yet?”
“Nope.”
He stared at her. She smiled back at him.
“You’re bored, aren’t you?”
“Extremely,” Vallis chirped. She ducked her head when he glared at her. “I’m used to constant activity, not waiting for things to happen. I don’t know how you just… wait. Same with Fara. If I put both of you in glass boxes for a week, I doubt you’d care.”
“I’d care a lot,” Rys said drily. “Things are going to happen this week.”
“Okay, then what if I did it last week, after Barul? Don’t play dumb with me.”
He shrugged. “It’s something you learn. I’m as bad as you are with nothing to do, which is why you always see me doing things. Learning evocation, reading, drinking with Grigor or Fara. The trick is to find things to do.”
“Right. And the thing I’m doing right now is annoying you,” Vallis said. She smirked when he glared at her.
Sighing, Rys snuffed out his little flame. “Fine. I’ll entertain you.”
The two of them sat in silence for the next thirty seconds.
“I don’t feel entertained,” Vallis said.
“You said you were going to annoy me.”
“Ah.” Vallis nodded. She stroked her chin. After a few moments, her eyes lit up. “Have you and Fara fucked yet?”
Rys felt glad that he wasn’t drinking anything.
“I’m sorry?” he asked, certain he’d misheard.
“She’s been mothering me a lot less lately. More approving smiles, fewer attempts to lock me in my room after several hours of lecturing,” Vallis said. “And unlike you, she doesn’t turn on her soundproofing most nights. I hear things.”
The lewd grin on Vallis’s face spoke volumes about what she heard from the neighboring bedroom.
“I think you already have an answer to that,” Rys said.
“She could just be really horny.”
“Are you sure you’re not projecting?” Rys raised an eyebrow.
Vallis’s face blew up, turning completely red. She looked away. Words tried to escape her mouth, but came out as incomprehensible stutters.
That was a yes, then.
“Okay, so teasing you was a bad idea,” Vallis said, face in her hands.
“You have heard the Lilim talk about me, right?” Rys asked.
“Nope. Other than when they bring food and drink, I stay away from them. Can’t say I like the idea of being near succubi much. I spent my life controlled by debt. Being controlled by other urges, especially if magic is involved, is something I’d prefer to avoid,” Vallis explained.
Rys frowned. His fingers drummed on the desk. This was a side of Vallis that he hadn’t noticed, and he had only himself to blame.
“The Lilim won’t touch you without your express permission,” Rys said, voice cold. “Has anything happened?”
Vallis blinked. Her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh no, absolutely not. I just don’t like the idea. It’s a, uh, hang-up, I guess.” She flushed and scratched her cheek. “It’s embarrassing to talk about.”
“You organized the loans with Tarmouth, though,” Rys said.
“That was… harder than I said it was,” Vallis muttered. “I give Tyrisa a hard time, but she helped a lot there. Hours of poring over the contracts and making sure that nothing could be traced back to me if something went wrong.”
“I see.”
Silence fell.
Vallis played with her skirt. She’d been favoring frilly collared shirts and pleated skirts as the weather warmed, ditching her heavier and finer clothes. Even her thigh-high stockings were thinner, such that Rys could see her skin through the black fabric. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t imagine what was beneath them, given how attractive she was.
“A simple question, then. If you’re so worried about being tied down, why are you still here?” Rys asked, his tone neutral.
Vallis’s eyes widened and she looked at him in shock. “Because I…” She paused and steadied herself. “You aren’t tying me down, that’s why. Maybe I’m in a bit too deep to easily walk away, but you always gave me a choice. My situation is different to Maria’s and Alsia’s.”
“And you don’t feel it could change?”
“Don’t you say that you care about results, not how I act?” Vallis tried to smirk. “It’s a little rich for me to run away from you, after everything you’ve done to help me. Maybe you do things I don’t understand, but you’re the best thing that’s happened to me.”
Her hand crept across the table and touched his. She smiled at him. When he didn’t push her away, she let out an explosive sigh.
“Hell, Rys, you scared the shit out of me,” she said, holding a hand against her chest. “The way you just switch off your emotions sometimes is fucking terrifying, you know? Can you promise to only do that to other people? And Tyrisa?”
“Sure,” he said.
They basked in the silence for almost a minute. Vallis’s fingers drummed against his hand while she caught her breath.
A knock echoed through the room.
“Come in, Maria,” Rys called out.
Vallis pouted but schooled her expression before Maria entered.
Maria entered wearing her usual black dress. She curtsied upon entering, then pulled up a chair next to Rys.
Blinking, Vallis looked between Maria and Rys. Maria had sat between the two of them, despite how close Vallis already was to Rys.
“Am I interrupting something?” Vallis joked, a frazzled smile on her face.
“I don’t know, are you?” Maria asked.
“Please don’t copy Tyrisa,” Rys requested, rapping Maria gently on the shoulder.
“That’s fair,” Maria admitted. “My apologies, Vallis.”
“It’s fine. I just wondered if you were up to something a little different.” Vallis smirked.
Maria’s eyes glittered and one of her hands trailed up Rys’s thigh. Vallis stared.
“Business, ladies,” Rys reminded them. He peeled Maria’s hand away from his crotch. “I’m here all day, but right now I want to know what remains to be done before we announce our new empire officially.”
Maria pouted, but looked to Vallis, who shrugged in response.
“I mostly needed to confirm that you wanted Alsia to rule the Kinadain herself,” Vallis asked.
“That’s what we agreed,” Rys said. “I’d be reneging on my agreements with both Alsia and Hanna if I did anything else.”
“Then I’d say that settles one thing: governance. You proposed that we have smaller governors for each region. Maria rules Anceston and its surroundings. Alsia rules the Kinadain and the mountains.” Vallis pointed her fingers at Rys. “But you boss both of them around as the big boss of the island.”
“And you?” Rys asked.
“I boss them around on your behalf,” Vallis said.
Maria pouted, but remained silent.
“So a federated model of governance,” Rys said. “Independent regional governments controlled by Maria, Alsia, and others that I then oversee with your help. That’s fairly sensible.”
“Yeah, that. Although what I read about federalism sounded a bit different,” Vallis said.
“Indeed,” Maria added. “I thought you would want to retain more direct control over your subjects, given your approach to Alsia and me.”
Her hand touched his thigh again.
“I said a federated model, not an actual federation.” Rys sighed. “In a federation, the smaller governments have genuine power, independence, and choice. I’m only providing the illusion of that.”
“Right, because you control Maria and Alsia,” Vallis said, ignoring the fact that Maria was sitting next to her.
Not that Maria cared. If anything, she liked what Vallis said. Her cheeks flushed and she leaned against Rys. Vallis pretended not to notice Maria’s affection.
“Correct,” Rys said. “I want the benefits of local rule. Maria and Alsia know more about the region than I do, and the people want leaders they know and trust. But if the masses become upset, I don’t want them to be able to take their toys and leave. I’ll rule everything and only offer local power because I trust Maria and Alsia.”
“What if people actually want to leave? Or if they find out and get really mad?” Vallis asked.
“They can leave,” Rys said. “When I said they can’t leave, I meant at a regional level. A village can’t secede, but the villagers can all hop on a boat and go to Dalyros.”
“Oh. That makes me feel a lot better.” Vallis laughed. “Not that I imagine many people will do that. But basically, nobody can dodge our laws and taxes by simply saying ‘I disagree’ and pretending that they’re not part of our empire.”
“It is only right,” Maria said.
Vallis smirked. “You’re real torn up over Barul, Maria. I can tell.”
Wincing, Maria looked away. “It’s unfortunate that he died. But I saw it coming given his reaction to the duel request. What matters is that I’m free from my father’s schemes. Siding with Rys is my decision.”
“Uh huh,” Vallis said. “I can tell by the fact your hand is slipping inside his pants right now. Should I leave, or…?”
Despite her words, Vallis remained stationary as Maria undid Rys’s pants. His cock popped out, nearly erect, and Maria let out a breathy sigh. Vallis’s eyes widened, staring at his massive prick. She swallowed noisily.
Rys backed up in his chair and pulled Maria onto the ground in front of him. She yelped, but let him pull her around. His hands yanked the front of her dress down. Her massive tits bounced out. A black bra held them in place, but Maria quickly undid it, freeing them.
Her hot breath blew over his cock. It hardened within seconds, rising to its full height.
“Holy shit,” Vallis breathed out.
Her eyes glued themselves to his shaft. She licked her lips as his throbbing hot cock sat there, waiting for attention from her or Maria.
Rys met Vallis’s eyes. She flushed, but refused to move. Instead, her hands drifted under her skirt. He watched as she parted her black panties and began to pleasure herself. Her eyes locked onto his length as she moaned his name.
“No fair,” Maria said. “I’m the one in front of you.”
The demihuman pressed her lips against his tip. Her tongue ran rings around it, greedily suckling on him.
He grabbed her horns. She yelped again as he lifted her body until her gargantuan breasts pressed against his cock. After several long seconds, she got the message.
But he didn’t let go of her horns.
“Of course, Rys,” Maria breathed, voice laden with pleasure. Her hands pressed against the fleshy sides of her chest. She enveloped his length with her tits, until only the tip poked out.
Her face stared down at his cock as it poked up at her.
“So big,” she gasped.
“Less talking,” he grunted.
He rammed her face against his cock. Her lips closed around his tip as her eyes widened. Tits bouncing, she found her own face pressed into her own lewd body.
Soon enough, Maria got the message and began moving. Her hands rubbed her tits back and forth along his length. She ran her tongue around the rim of his glans, bobbing her head up and down as saliva dribbled down his shaft.
On the desk, Vallis’s moans increased in intensity. Her masturbation became more violent as she rammed her fingers inside herself. She’d unbuttoned her shirt and was rubbing her chest with her other hand. Her thighs were slick with her pleasure and the air filled with the sound of her ecstasy.
“Rys! Rys!” Vallis moaned.
She threw her head back and kicked up her legs. Juices sprayed out of her bright pink sex. Dark splash marks appeared on the carpet in front of her. Vallis kept moving, her eyes locked onto Rys, glazed with pleasure.
Rys spotted Vallis’s orgasm. The sight nearly pushed him to climax, and he gripped Maria’s horns tightly.
Below him, Maria looked up at him. Her eyes curved in pleasure and signaled that she was ready.
He rammed her head down his cock. Her tits dropped as her face pushed them out of the way. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as he felt his length bulge her throat.
He reached his peak. Thick rope after rope of his seed poured into her stomach. Maria gasped and moaned against his crotch as she deepthroated him during his climax. Her fingers pressed deeply into her own crotch, and she drizzled juices all over the carpet.
Steaming gobs of white plopped onto her face after he pulled out of her. Maria gasped each time one struck her face. Her fingers greedily swept her face clean, and her tongue tasted each drop.
“Seems you enjoyed that,” Rys told Maria, but he also looked at Vallis.
“Always,” Maria gasped out. “I’m here for your use, Rys.” She shuddered in pleasure as he pressed his cock against her face. The tip rubbed against her silver curls.
“Wow. She’s totally yours,” Vallis said, pulling her fingers clear of her crotch. She blushed when Rys raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, can we pretend this didn’t happen?”
“No.”
Vallis blinked. “Um, what?”
“We’re adults, Vallis. None of us are drunk. We deal with our desires like people. If you want some time to think, that’s fine, but I’m not pretending you didn’t cover my office floor in your juices while watching me slam my cock down Maria’s throat.”
Vallis’s face practically exploded from embarrassment at the blunt way that Rys put her actions. She looked down at her crotch, which was a sticky mess.
“Fuck,” she muttered. “Yeah, that was pretty hot.” She gulped. “Some time to think would be nice.”
Then Maria slipped Rys’s cock into her mouth again, and Vallis forgot what she just said. Instead, her fingers slipped into her crotch while her brown eyes locked onto Rys’s massive length. She lost herself in pleasure.
Rys would deal with Vallis’s feelings another day. For now, he indulged. A storm was coming.