Chapter Thirteen
I was back at the inn with the girls beside me, and it took me a moment to shake off the nervous energy I was filled with after killing the duke. I wasn’t the murderous type to begin with, and I’d acted on impulse when I’d taken his life, but he deserved it. After learning about the dukes’ plot to harm the king, I knew I had to take out Arginold and Racine for good, and I had the beginnings of an idea of how to do that already.
I thought back over everything I’d learned so far. Racine sent letters to a wizard named Dumas who worked for the Duke of Edinburg. The Duke of Arginold was indeed responsible for the wannabe bandits and mercenaries we’d encountered, while Racine was the one to blame for the werewolf attack.
Why did Racine have so many of the creatures in his cave? Was it just because of me, or were they part of the bigger plot to kill the king?
I had to stop these two assholes from fucking with Sorreyal, but I was definitely going to have fun doing it.
The best part would be the two of them never knowing who was responsible for their downfall. They would point the finger at each other, while I grabbed all the duke’s treasures and laughed my ass off. Then I’d go back to Bastianville with all the loot and use it to pimp my little town out.
I grinned to myself as I thought about what I could accomplish with that much gold. I could probably build myself a castle, but I would make sure all the towns in my holding were in good standing first.
“Good morning, Great One,” Mahini greeted with a yawn.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I chirped, and she smiled sweetly up at me.
“Are you about to go back up to the castle?” the desert goddess asked as she snuggled closer against me.
“No.” I frowned as I thought over what I should do next. “We have some things I need to take care of first. Besides, I wanted to spend some time with you girls today helping you accomplish your tasks.”
“While I always love spending time with you,” Mahini said with a wry smile, “wasn’t the point in having us do these tasks was so you could be in two places at once?”
“Exactly.” I grinned. “With you girls and also at the castle.”
“How are you going to do that?” she pressed.
“Don’t you worry about it,” I laughed, and the noise woke up Elissa.
My tiny goddess of a wife squeaked as she yawned and stretched her arms, and the sound endeared her to me even more. Her emerald eyes were blurry as she blinked awake, and the corners of her lips instantly lifted into a smile when she saw me.
“Good morning, wife,” I murmured as I nuzzled my nose against her fiery curls.
“Good morning,” Elissa yawned. “What did I miss?”
“Bash was about to explain his plans,” Mahini said in an excited tone.
“As soon as Eva wakes up,” I said.
The desert goddess sighed, and she eyed the still sleeping beauty on the far side of the bed. “Fine.”
“That’s my girl,” I chuckled, and I gestured for her to come closer.
“Maybe we can just catch her up on the details later.” Mahini laid her head on my chest and began to caress my torso with long luxurious strokes. “I am eager to work.”
“Be patient.” I smirked. “It won’t be long.”
Eva woke up a short while later, and then the four of us ate breakfast. Mahini grew more and more anxious the longer I waited, and her incessant toe tapping was cracking me up, so I wasn’t in a hurry. I was entertained plenty by her eagerness to hear about my plan, but I knew the other two girls were ready, too.
“What’s up, Mahini?” I asked in a nonchalant tone as I eyed her tense grip on her cutlery.
“She’s awake,” the desert goddess said as she pointed her fork at Eva. “Let’s hear this plan of yours.”
“Oh, yes,” Eva gasped. “I want to know what’s going on. What are you up to, Great One?”
“Mystery and intrigue,” Elissa supplied with a wink. “What else?”
“We’re going to empty the treasury room without anyone knowing we were here,” I explained as my own excitement grew. “The only way to get in is by taking the key from around the duke’s neck, but we can’t just walk out with armfuls of gold, either.”
“How can we help?” Mahini asked with one arched eyebrow. “What do you need from us?”
“There are three phases to my plan.” I grinned. “Phase one is the wizard, phase two is the duke, and phase three is the treasure. So much treasure.”
“That sounds like a big task,” Eva said as she worked her lower lip between her teeth. “How are we supposed to get into the treasury room?”
“I’ll take care of that part,” I explained. “Phase one is about gathering supplies and preparing for phase two. Follow my instructions to the letter, and everything will go off without a hitch.”
If any issues arose, I could always spam respawns until I figured out a way around them. I was determined to take care of my dual problem of the court wizard and the duke at the same time, and without actually lifting a finger myself.
My plan reminded me of those Rube Goldberg machines where one thing triggered a series of events. I just had to assemble the blocks to knock over first.
“What should we do?” Elissa asked.
“You, my dear wife, are going to be a maid in Lady Sarisha’s entourage,” I explained. “Then, at just the right moment, I am going to call on you to perform a simple task that will start the ball rolling.”
“I can do that.” Elissa grinned. “I’ll probably look really cute in a maid’s uniform.”
The image of my sexy redheaded wife wearing a french maid costume popped into my head, and I nodded emphatically in agreement.
This was going to be fun.
“And what of me, Great One?” Eva asked with hope-filled gray eyes. “What task can I assist you with?”
“I’ll need you to get a job,” I chuckled. It never stopped being funny to me what I needed her to do in order for my plan to work. “You’ll be pretending to work in the stables, and then you’ll be in position to perform a dangerous task that is essential to the entire plan. I’ll need you to locate some barrels of oil as well.”
Eva swallowed hard, but she nodded her assent. “I can do that, Great One.”
Mahini gave me a pointed look, and I laughed.
“I didn’t forget about you,” I assured her. “I have a very important job for you to do.”
“Good.” Mahini lifted her chin proudly. “I can handle anything you need. Just say the word.”
“I need you to sew,” I said as I bit back my laughter and waited for her response.
Mahini’s ice-blue eyes widened in surprise, and her lips parted ever so slightly. “S-Sew?”
“Yeah.” My grin widened as I shot her a teasing wink. “Go to the marketplace and gather all the tapestries and rugs and whatever else that Malo guy has for sale. Then you’ll need to sew them together end to end.”
“How many tapestries do you need, Great One?” Mahini asked, and she clenched her jaw with determination.
“It needs to reach at least a few stories long,” I said. “And there can’t be any gaps between each tapestry, so overlap the edges and make sure your stitches are tight.”
“I would do anything for you, Great One,” Mahini said with a stoic expression on her beautiful face. “Even… sew.”
“Oh, Mahini, I also need you to get a wagon to haul the tapestries in,” I instructed the desert goddess with a mysterious wink. “And hold onto it for later. It will be a surprise tool that will help with the final phase of my plan.”
“A wagon?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“Yep,” I chuckled. “A heavy-duty one that we can hitch some horses to. Make it much bigger than you need for the tapestries, and get a canvas cover to go over it so that no one can see inside. Use as much of the five-hundred gold pieces as you need to get it and the horses. Just make sure it’s capable of carrying a heavy load.”
“I will get one for you.” Mahini nodded. “What will I use it for if it’s too large for the tapest--”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be helping all of you with your tasks. I just can’t be in two places at once, and I need you all ready to go when I give the green light.”
“How do you make green light?” Eva asked in a curious tone.
“It’s for cars--” I shook my head. “Never mind that, just be ready to go when I call on you.”
“Yes, Great One,” Mahini said with a curt nod.
“Just say the word,” Eva added.
“Ready when you are!” Elissa giggled. “Although, I’m still not entirely clear on what my task is just yet.”
“Me, either,” Eva chuckled.
“Me as well,” Mahini cleared her throat. “What do I do with all these… rugs… once I have sewn them together?”
“Once all the tapestries are sewn together before dinner, I’ll need you to bring them to the castle in the wagon.” I grinned. “Just use the name ‘Malo’ to gain entrance at the gate-- he’s the guy who cleans the rugs for the castle, so you can say you work for him and are making a delivery, and then tell Gertrude you’re delivering the tapestries to the duke, or something like that. As long as you act like you belong there, they won’t question you. Park the wagon next to the stables, where the other wagons are parked, and I’ll meet up with you after I drop Eva off there. Then we’re going to move the wagon to the other side of the courtyard.”
“Got it,” she said with a nod. “Finish the tapestries, load them up into a heavy-duty wagon, park it next to the castle stables before dinner, and wait for you. What will we do afterward?”
“All things will be revealed in time,” I said with a mysterious wink.
“I knew you were going to say something like that,” Mahini chuckled.
“We should get started right away,” my wife said as she clapped her hands together. Then she stood up from the table and crossed the room to the dresser. “What does a maid wear?”
“I have a uniform for all of you,” I informed them, and I moved to where I had them stashed to pull out a cute little navy-blue dress with a white apron. “Mahini, you can wear what you’re wearing now, but once you are inside the castle walls and parked next to the stables, slip into the covered wagon and change your outfit so you are dressed as a guard. Eva, you’ll go as a stable hand. Elissa, I have a maid’s outfit for you. I hope it fits, it looks small enough.”
“It’s nice,” Elissa said, and she pulled off her clothes before slipping into the maid’s uniform.
“Try your best to fit in with the other maids,” I said with an appreciative glance over her disguise. “You are way too sexy to be a maid.”
“I think so, too,” my wife giggled.
“I should head toward the stables,” Eva said with a mischievous smile. “I want to have plenty of time to get used to my new trade.”
“And I should head down to the marketplace to find tapestries or rugs and a wagon,” Mahini said.
“Good.” I placed my hands on my hips and surveyed my team of badass women. “There’s no one else I’d rather take down an entire dukedom with.”
“Arginold will bow before the might of the Great One of Legend,” Mahini announced in a decisive tone. “They will flock to you.”
“Only time will tell,” I replied with a sage nod. “Now, let’s get phase one started!”
“Let’s do it!” Elissa tittered.
“Is that what the green light means?” Eva asked with a confused tilt of her head.
“Basically,” I laughed.
Then the four of us trotted down the steps from our room and out the front door of the inn to the streets of Arginold. We waved as we parted ways since Mahini was headed to the market, Eva to the stables, and Elissa and I were headed to the castle.
It felt a bit like a super villain sending his sexy and deadly minions out, and after a couple more things were taken care of, I could set the wheels in motion, so I could just sit back and watch the disaster unfold.
I’d lost count of how many times I’d relived the same day since I’d been summoned to this world, and time had a way of losing meaning when you could manipulate it the way I could. Memories overlapped and blurred together, but it was sometimes fun to know what everyone was going to say before they even opened their mouth.
Elissa and I made our way past the guards with minimal effort, and then we entered the servant’s quarters in the wizard’s wing.
“Tell Gertrude that Marty hired you, but Duchess Penelope doesn’t like you,” I instructed. “Make sure you work in Sarisha’s entourage all day long to earn the other servants’ trust.”
“I can do that.” My wife grinned. “I’m very likeable.”
“Yes, you are.” I returned her grin, and then I kissed her on the forehead. “Sarisha and Racine are really mean to their servants, so don’t listen to anything they say, okay? Well, except commands.”
“Got it.” Elissa lifted her chin with determination. “I can do this. Anything for you, husband.”
“I believe in you,” I said, and then I turned to finish another part of my plan.
I wanted to get my hands on a letter from Dumas to Racine in order to see what the Duke of Edinburg’s court wizard’s handwriting looked like. It was crucial to my plan that I be able to copy Dumas’ script perfectly so there could be no doubt about its legitimacy.
I had something brewing in the back of my head, and this was the perfect opportunity to take my idea into the next phase, so I made my way to Racine’s study.
I encountered a couple other servants on my way, and I nodded to them in greeting, but they didn’t say anything to me. I supposed I fit right in with the other staff members moving about the household since I was wearing a uniform exactly like theirs, and they had no reason to suspect I was actually up to a nefarious plot.
I chuckled to myself as I slipped inside the study, and I made sure to shut the door behind me. Racine’s desk was huge, and the entire surface was covered in letters and other papers. It would take me a lifetime to sort through them all, so I made a new save point.
My idea required Elissa to be recognized as one of the members of Sarisha’s staff, so I wasn’t going to mess up any of my plans by overriding my last save point.
I started on the left side, and I began to organize and stack the papers into piles. It was tedious work, but I was determined to get my hands on something Dumas had written. I made my way through lists about supplies, notes about his summoning progress, and angry rants about Racine’s alleged mistreatment from various people. All were written in the Duke of Arginold’s court wizard’s handwriting, and I was starting to lose hope when I stumbled across something written by someone else.
It was scrawled on a dirty piece of parchment that had obviously been crumpled up and then unfolded again.
Racine,
No more letters. We must speak in person about these matters.
Dumas
I wondered for a moment if the court wizards were already plotting against the dukes, but either way it didn’t really matter. Just the idea of treachery would be enough to make my plan work, so I cleared a space on the desk for me to write.
I found a blank piece of paper, grabbed the quill from the inkwell, and got to work. I didn’t have a lot to go off, but I didn’t need much.
I wasn’t a master at copying other people’s handwriting, so at first my mimicry was sloppy, and it carried no resemblance to Dumas’ words. I filled a page with my attempts, and then I reset to try again.
Chime.
This time, I was able to go straight to Dumas’ note, and I quickly cleared a spot at the desk to practice on. I continued to practice copying the letters in Dumas’ handwriting until I filled the page again, and then I reset once more.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
I spent hours, maybe days, practicing in Racine’s study, but only the span of an hour passed each time before I reset. I spammed my respawns and practiced until the letters began to resemble the wizard’s pen more and more. Bit by bit, progress was made, and then I made a perfect mimicry.
I reset one more time to ensure I’d conquered the task.
Chime.
I cleared the space and got to work, but this time, every single word looked identical to Edinburg’s court wizard’s. Then I reset for a final time to write out my brief note in Dumas’ name.
Racine,
Act swiftly and remove Arginold from action. I shall do the same with Edinburg. We will split the riches between us and no longer have to submit to being under a noble’s thumb.
Dumas.
Pleased with the result, I folded the letter up and slid it into my pocket for later. I put Racine’s desk back the way I’d found it, and I left the study less than an hour before I’d entered it. I peeked my head out into the hallway before I darted out, but I didn’t see anyone else, so I crept down the corridor.
Then I made my way out of the wizard’s wing of the castle, and I headed toward the side entrance. It was time to check in on Mahini and Eva.
I nodded to the guards as I left the castle, but they didn’t try to stop me since I was just a servant out running an errand for their lord. I stopped by the stables first since it was closer than the inn where the girls and I were staying, and I spotted Evangeline right away as she carried a wheelbarrow full of manure down the lane in front of the stalls.
“Hey, sexy,” I greeted with a wide grin.
“Oh, hi!” Eva grinned back, and she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “I never realized how hard it is to take care of horses. I have a new gratitude to Corvis for all the hard work he puts in.”
“You’ll have to tell him that when we get back to Bastianville,” I suggested. “I’m sure he’d love to hear it.”
“Good idea.” Eva crossed the distance between us, and her hips swayed seductively as she walked. “All this hard work reminds me of another form of exercise I enjoy.”
“Oh, yeah?” I laughed. “We’ll have to make sure you get some cardio soon, then.”
“Is cardio exercise?” Eva asked with a confused expression.
“Sure is.” I smirked, but then I got down to business. “So, part of your job is dangerous, and part of it is important, but it may be easier to do first.”
“I’m listening.” Eva’s lips twitched as she continued to close the distance between us until she was standing inches in front of me.
I inhaled her current earthy aroma greedily, and then I wrapped my arms around her lower back to pull her against me.
I could no longer resist the urge to kiss her, so I claimed her mouth with my own, and our tongues immediately sought each other out. We came up for air a few moments later, and I caught my breath before I answered her question.
“It’s for us to ride out of town Ocean Eleven’s style,” I snickered. “Flames burning and everything.”
“Oh, how intriguing,” the duke’s daughter purred. “But aren’t there more than eleven oceans?”
“Let’s just focus on the stables for now. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course.” Her gray eyes twinkled, and she twirled her hands around the back of my neck. “I’ll do anything you want if you kiss me again.”
“Only then, huh?” I chuckled.
“Shut up and kiss me,” she insisted, so I did.
Our lips parted, and our tongues tangoed like two practiced dancers. I held the duke’s daughter close against me with one arm while I caressed her body with my other, and a moment later she was moaning into my mouth. I swallowed her moans like I was starving for sustenance, and I nibbled on her lower lip as my hands explored the curves of her backside.
Then I released her without warning, and Eva stumbled backward a step before she caught herself and regained her composure.
“Get back to work,” I teased.
“Of course, Great One,” Eva said, and she flashed me a wink before she returned to her wheelbarrow.
It was pretty amusing to see the duke’s daughter hauling around a load of horse manure, but she was handling it like a champion. Ever graceful and ladylike, even in a stable, Evangeline was something else.
I turned with a contented sigh, and I headed down the streets of Arginold toward the inn to check on Mahini. If she greeted me in a similar fashion, I probably wouldn’t get much else done today besides making out with beautiful women.
There were worse fates for men.
I trotted up the steps to our room, and Mahini greeted me with a bright smile and warmth in her ice-blue eyes. There were rolls of thick carpet and tapestries everywhere the eye could see, and every surface in the room was covered in piles of them.
“This might be a more than one person task,” she chuckled as she watched me take in the enormous number of tapestries and other textiles. “We could really use a bunch of gold after all that.”
“As long as it’s long enough,” I said. “But it looks like it will be.”
“How will we know for sure?” Mahini asked.
“I’ll need it to reach about two to three stories up,” I explained. “So, we need to find some way to test it.”
“Maybe we can find another building in town to use as a measure,” Mahini suggested as she heaved the pile of tapestries from her lap and stood from her chair at the table. “I missed you, and the other girls. It is strange to be on a mission alone after how much time we spend all together.”
“I missed you, too.” I grinned. “Back in my old world, they used to say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I don’t like being away from you for very long.”
“I feel the same way,” the desert goddess said, and desire filled her pale-blue gaze.
“Well, hello, there,” I murmured as she stepped up into my arms. I chuckled to myself as I thought about how lucky I was to have three gorgeous women in love with me, but then my mind blanked as Mahini’s piercing eyes locked with mine.
I fell into the depths of her eyes, and the next thing I knew, our lips were intertwined. The desert goddess’ tongue was tentative as it explored the edges of my lips, so I grabbed the back of her neck and opened her mouth fully.
We made out for several blissful moments as Mahini raked her nails across my shoulders and drugged them across my scalp. Shivers ran up my spine, and I gasped for air.
“Time to get to work,” Mahini chuckled, and her blue eyes twinkled playfully.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and I shook my head to dispel the powerful, heady spell she’d placed on me with her mere presence.
Something about being alone with each of them made them stand out so much more to me, and I gazed lovingly at the obsidian-haired beauty as she returned to her seat.
I took the chair opposite her, and I grabbed a tapestry. “I’ll help until it’s time to retrieve Elissa to finish her phase one task.”
“Is she okay up there in the castle by herself?” Mahini bit her lip with worry.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” I gave the desert goddess a reassuring smile. “She can handle her own, after all. She’s the Skullcrusher, remember?”
“You’re right.” Mahini smiled. “She’s a tough one. I just worry when she’s not by our side.”
“That’s understandable,” I said. “I love how protective you are of her. It sets my heart at ease when I have you at my back.”
“I’ll always guard your back, Great One,” Mahini assured me, but then she winced, and her thumb shot up to her mouth. “I pricked myself.”
“Be careful,” I chuckled, and then I turned my attention back to the task at hand.
I’d never sewn anything before, but it couldn’t be that hard to do, so I grabbed a needle and some thread. Then I set about overlapping and sewing one end of the tapestry to another. I made small little circles through both pieces of fabric, and I pulled it taut with each repetition. I was making pretty good progress, even though it was slow, and after a few hours had passed, I had a quarter of one tapestry sewn to another.
Mahini had made more progress than me, and she flaunted her halfway done tapestry with a grin.
“Something I’m better at than you, perhaps?” The desert goddess gifted me with one of her melodic laughs, and my heart sang at the sound.
“Perhaps,” I chuckled.
We both laughed some more, and then we returned our focus to the work. It was going to take some time to accomplish, so I couldn’t reset to any save points until it was completed or I’d just set us back on time.
It took a few hours to sew half the tapestries and rugs together, and then we tried to stretch them out to see how long they were. They filled the room from one end to the other, but that wasn’t very long, and we had several hanging off the edge as slack. We had to find a way to test the length to make sure it was long enough to reach the ground from the treasury room window.
“We need to go find a building that’s tall enough to test it,” I said as I furrowed my brow. “Let’s go see what we can find in Arginold.”
“Alright,” Mahini agreed, and we stacked the tapestries up the best we could before we left the room without them. Then we waved to the innkeeper as we passed and headed out to the streets of Arginold.
The streets were dreary and snowy, and an air of melancholy clung to every surface. The gray stones were muddy with trodden footsteps through the slush, and horse dung was frozen in chunks at random intervals.
“Quite the town,” I observed with a wry smile. I waved to a townsperson, but I received a scowl in return, and I shook my head. “The Duke of Arginold isn’t doing much for morale around these parts.”
“What would you do differently, Great One?” Mahini asked in a curious tone.
“I would clean up the streets for starters,” I said. “Hire a crew of men to clean up behind the horses and collect trash.”
“You think that would make a difference in morale?” Mahini shook her head. “How?”
“You’d be amazed what a clean room will do for your mindset.” I shrugged. “That’s what my mom always used to say, anyway.”
“I suppose it makes sense,” the desert goddess allowed. “Cleanliness brings honor.”
“If that’s true, then Arginold is not very honorable,” I chuckled. “Probably all sorts of seedy dealings going on.”
“Look,” Mahini said suddenly, and she grabbed me by the arm to stop me. Then she pointed to a building up ahead a little ways.
It looked dilapidated, and abandoned, but that would work out perfectly for our plans. I grinned at the desert goddess as I headed toward the house to take a look. It was three stories tall, which would work out nicely for our needs.
“It looks like exactly what we need,” I said, and I flashed Mahini a pleased smile. “Good eye.”
“Thank you, Great One,” she replied as color crept into her cheeks.
The desert goddess still showed signs of discomfort with direct compliments, but she seemed less surprised with them as time went on.
We walked toward the house with eager steps, and I knocked heavily on the door before I tried the knob. No response came, so I opened the portal and peered inside. It looked like the structure had been touched by fire, but not any time recently, since dust was piled over top of the ashes.
It appeared completely empty, but still structurally sound, so I ventured further inside to look around. The stairs looked pretty rundown, but I hesitated before making a new save point.
Eva and Elissa were at the castle, and there was a possibility, although quite slim, that they had been found out. If that was the case, I’d want to restart. However, the day was going to have to move forward eventually, and I was confident they had followed their orders and hadn’t been noticed, so I made a new save point even though I knew it was a bit of a risk.
Then I stepped precariously up the stairs, and Mahini followed right behind me. A step cracked and fell through beneath my feet, and I quickly reset back to my save point.
“Watch that step,” I warned as I hopped over it to the next, and I made a new save point once Mahini was safely across as well.
“How did you-- Never mind,” she laughed.
I chuckled to myself as I led her the rest of the way up the stairs safely. We explored the second floor for a minute, but then I spotted the hatch to the attic. I’d seen a third level window, so I knew we could drop the textiles from up there.
“Let’s see if the attic is stable,” I suggested as I jerked my chin toward the hatch. “If the tapestries reach three stories, then they will be more than long enough.”
“Alright,” Mahini said, and she jumped up to reach the pull handle.
I climbed up the ladder behind her to the attic above, and my view for the ascent was amazing, since Mahini’s ass was right in front of my face in her tight leather breeches.
The attic seemed stable enough, but there were a few boards missing on the floor. It didn’t look like the fire had reached this high because I didn’t see any burn damage, so I moved to the window and attempted to open the latch.
The latch wouldn’t budge, so we’d have to break the glass to drop the tapestries out the window, but other than that the building was perfect for our needs.
“I think this will do,” I said. “One of us will come up here to drop it, and the other will watch from outside. That way if anyone who owns this house tries to give us trouble, we’ll have a heads up.”
“Good idea.” Mahini nodded. “Let’s go get the tapestries.”
We made our way back through the avenues of Arginold to the inn, and we returned a short while later with the sewn together textiles. Mahini bundled up the fabric in her arms, and she entered the house to drop the tapestries from the top window while I waited outside.
There was a sharp crash as the desert goddess kicked out the glass from the window, but the street directly outside the house was empty, so we were in the clear. We’d wandered into a less populated area of town before Mahini had spotted the building we’d chosen, so I had little worry about being caught trespassing. Our intention was harmless, anyway, despite the broken glass.
Then Mahini unfurled the sewn together tapestries and textiles from the window, and they unfolded one by one in a rapid twirl. The fabric fell until it was fully open, and it dangled about ten feet from the ground.
“It doesn’t quite reach,” I said in a disappointed tone.
I heard Mahini’s sigh through the attic window, but she didn’t say anything.
“I’d like it to be three stories long, but we can always grab another and add it on later if it doesn’t reach, plus, the other girls and I will all help you,” I said in a reassuring tone. “Go ahead and drop it, I’ll pick it up from down here.”
“Yes, Great One,” the desert goddess said through the open window. “I’m sorry I’m not a faster sewer.”
“This is a huge task,” I said. “That’s why I entrusted it with you. I know you’re patient enough to see it through.”
Mahini flashed me a bright smile before her head disappeared back through the window. The train of tapestries fluttered to the ground, and I rushed over to scoop it up before it all got too wet or muddy. Each of the textiles was pretty sturdy and resilient, though, which was good. That strength, along with getting a gentle angle from the treasury window to the wagon, would ensure we didn’t lose any of our loot when the time came.
My devoted lover appeared by my side a moment later, and the two of us made our way back to the inn.
“It just needs a few more,” I reassured her in a comforting tone.
“Of course,” Mahini said with a half-smile. “I’m just worried we don’t have enough tapestries.”
“Worst case scenario.” I smirked. “I’ll steal some from the castle.”
“You think it will come to that?” Mahini asked with a lifted eyebrow.
“I want to be extra sure it’s long enough.” I nodded. “It’s very important.”
“What for?” Mahini shook her head in confusion. “I still haven’t figured out what you need the long tapestry for.”
“It’s a surprise,” I said with a devilish smirk. “It’s more fun that way.”
Then I decided it was time to retrieve the girls for the evening. The next phase of my plan would start the next day, and I wanted to make sure everything would work perfectly. I stopped by the stables to tell Eva to head home for the night, and then I returned to the castle to fetch Elissa.
I found my wife standing in waiting in the wizard’s wing outside Sarisha’s bedroom, and I pulled her to the side into the kitchen. It was empty for the moment, but I knew the cooks would arrive to cook dinner shortly. I shut the door closed behind us, and I turned to greet my wife with a happy step.
“How’s it going?” I asked as I hugged her quickly. I was glad both of my other women were okay, since I’d made a save point in the middle of the day.
“Good.” Elissa flashed me a dazzling smile that took my breath away. “Susan and Bethy already talk to me. They were complaining to me about how mean Lady Sarisha is.”
“Perfect.” I rubbed my hands together. “That puts us ahead of schedule, actually.”
I’d planned to practice planting the rumor the next day around breakfast time, but it was almost dinner time for the wizard’s household, and it was as good of a time as any. There was no harm in trying it out to see if it worked.
I made a new save point in the kitchen of the wizard’s wing, since I wanted to be able to reset and keep all my options open. I hadn’t finished the rest of the phases of my plan, but phase one relied heavily on the wizard acting in a predictable way, so it would be a good idea to try it out first.
“What are you thinking inside that head of yours, husband?” Elissa asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
“I’m thinking we might just go ahead and move forward with my plan,” I said as a devious smile stretched across my face. “I need you to tell Susan and Bethy that Sarisha is sleeping with the Duke of Arginold right now.”
“Ohh, I get it!” Elissa said in an excited whisper. “That’s why you wanted us to ask around town about them.”
“That’s right,” I chuckled. “You’re a smart cookie.”
“Thanks,” she giggled. “Don’t worry, Bash, I can do this.”
“I’m not worried,” I assured her.
My wife’s confidence was contagious, and it was sexy as hell on her. I was tempted to take her right then and there, but I wanted to test out my theory about Racine. It was crucial to my plan, so I had to make sure I got it just right.
Elissa giggled as she slipped out of the kitchen, and I scanned the room for something to occupy myself with.
I knew from my previous experiences in the wizard’s wing of the castle that he took his dinner at a precise hour, and he was incredibly picky about his food. I’d overheard him complaining to the cook about the meals many times as I poked around in his things.
If everything went as planned, then he would be complaining to the cook tonight at the precise time that a couple of servants were talking about his wife. If it didn’t go as planned, then I would reset and adapt.
I would make sure this happened perfectly if it took me a lifetime or two.
I spotted some dirty dishes, so I moved to the sink to pretend to clean them. A short while later, the two cooks came in. One was short with a thick brown beard and well-pronounced mutton chops, and the other was tall with arms that looked like they could wrap around my body twice. They shot me a sideways glance, but they didn’t comment on me washing their dishes.
“What are you making for him tonight, Jo?” the short, bearded cook asked the tall, lanky one.
“Roast veal and lamb chops,” Jo replied with a proud grin. “I dare him to complain about that. I got the meat from the butcher myself.”
“He’ll have your head if you burn it,” the short guy pointed out.
They got to work, and a short while later the kitchen was filled with the sweet aromas of meat cooking and vegetables simmering. Jo and the bearded guy kept pretty busy trying to prepare the meal for Racine and Sarisha before the couple lost their patience.
I pretended like I was minding my own business, but I took my time attempting to wash the dishes. I was just waiting for the opportunity to burn the dinner meant for Racine, which would cause him to come into the kitchen to yell at the cooks.
I felt bad for using the cooks in my Rube Goldberg style plan to take down the court wizard and the duke at the same time, but it was necessary that Racine enter the kitchen at just the moment I wanted him to.
I ducked my head out the kitchen door to check on the court wizard’s location, and he was sitting alone at the dining room table. Elissa and the other two maids, Susan and Bethy, were standing in the hallway outside Sarisha’s bedroom, and I saw my wife lean forward to whisper in one of the girls’ ears.
This was it.
The servant girls would be talking about the rumor all throughout dinner time, and when Racine got up to go to the kitchen… Things would get interesting.
I chuckled to myself as I returned to the dishes. I would need the cooks to leave the room or be distracted in some way so I could ruin the dinner they’d carefully prepared, but in the meantime, I continued to slowly wash the dishes. I wasn’t paying much attention to the items in my hand, and I absentmindedly moved them around in the sink until it seemed like they were clean.
Jo eyed me from across the room when a plate slipped from my hand to crash into the sink, but fortunately, nothing had broken.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I lifted my sudsy hands up in apology for the noise.
A short while later, the cooks left the kitchen to inform Racine and Sarisha what was for dinner. I peeked my head around the edge of the door to see where my wife was, and I saw her standing in a line between the other two girls behind the court wizard’s wife. Racine had his own trio of servants standing in waiting behind him, and I wondered if the nobles got off on being in command of so many people.
They seemed like power hungry villains to me, and I was eager to make them pay for their crimes against me and my people.
While the cooks were out of the kitchen, I rushed over to the stove. I opened the flue, and I quickly stoked the flames inside to increase the heat level the meat was exposed to. I had to add another log a moment later, and I hastily shoved it into the furnace before I shut the door once more.
Whether or not that would be enough to burn it past the tolerance of the court wizard remained to be seen.
I returned to the dishes, and I began to rinse everything off with clean water. Then I neatly stacked them beside the sink, and I dried off the surfaces I’d splashed with water during the process.
The cooks returned to the kitchen, and they hurried about the room gathering the serving dishes used to place the food on. Neither one of them checked the food right away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The longer the fire was allowed to burn hotter, the more burnt the food would get, and the more pissed off Racine would be.
Suddenly, Elissa and Bethy dashed into the kitchen in a fit of giggles. The other maid working with my wife was a tall girl, maybe about twenty years old, with curly blonde hair and dull blue eyes. Bethy seemed a bit slow, but she meant well enough, and she would work perfectly to further our plans.
I pretended to busy myself at the sink even though the dishes were all washed, but I kept my ears peeled for what the girls were discussing.
“Alright, alright, tell me already,” Bethy gushed as she clasped Elissa’s hands tightly. “Stop withholding all the sordid details. I know you have a secret!”
I noticed the cooks were pretending to stay busy but also eavesdropping on the conversation between my wife and Sarisha’s maid.
“She finally managed to bag the duke!” Elissa whispered loudly. “Our proud Lady Sarisha is the duke’s newest mistress!”
“You know this for certain?” Bethy gasped. “How?”
“I waited on Lady Sarisha late last night when she required a bath,” Elissa confessed with an earnest expression.
I resisted the urge to clap for my wife’s acting skills, but she was doing wonderfully. I’d have to reward her for her performance later.
“She’s been eyeing the duke for a while now,” Bethy allowed. “But I can’t believe he fell for it.”
“Poor sap,” Elissa sighed as she nodded in agreement.
The door flung open again, and Susan trotted in. “There you two are! What’s taking so long?”
“Oh, Susan, you’re not going to believe this,” Bethy said, and she beckoned the other maid over.
“I will go attend our lady,” Elissa suggested with a wink for her companions, and then my wife made eye contact with me from across the kitchen, and her vibrant emerald eyes were bright with mischief. She was certainly enjoying playing a little game with me, and it turned me on to watch her work her magic.
Elissa stepped out of the kitchen with a waggle of her fingers, but she left the door open when she departed.
The stove began to emit thick smoke, and the smell of burning beef filled the air. The two cooks cursed and rushed over to the woodstove to see what had happened, and I took the opportunity to dash out of the room behind my wife.
I could hear the two cooks behind me whispering furiously as they pulled the burnt meat from the oven.
“You were supposed to be watching it,” the short bearded one hissed to Jo.
“I was listening to the maids,” Jo confessed.
“Me, too,” the other cook admitted.
They would be talking about the rumor they’d just heard for a minute, so now I just needed to get Racine into the kitchen to hear it. I found a hiding spot in the hallway behind a window’s curtain since I wanted to be able to watch the explosion occur first-hand.
After a short while of waiting and nothing happening, I saw Racine go into the kitchen to check on his dinner. It was well past the time he normally ate at this point, and I wondered if the cooks were trying to salvage the food.
I was disappointed when the court wizard returned to the dining room a moment later, and he looked annoyed but not pissed. There was no way he heard the rumor about his wife. The cooks must have stopped talking about it shortly before he came in, so I’d have to reset and try again.
Chime.
“What are you thinking inside that head of yours, husband?” Elissa asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
“I’m thinking we might just go ahead and move forward with my plan,” I said as a devious smile stretched across my face. “I need you to tell Susan and Bethy that Sarisha is sleeping with the Duke of Arginold in a little while, just before dinner is served. And yes, that’s why I wanted you to ask around town for rumors.”
“As far as I can tell, Sarisha and Arginold are not sleeping together.” Elissa shrugged. “But people will believe it if someone says so.”
“You need to disappear after you spread the rumor,” I instructed. “You can’t be associated with it in any way.”
“Got it.” Elissa grinned.
We carried on with our plan, but I tweaked the timing a little so the girls didn’t come into the kitchen until the cooks had already discovered the burned food, but then Jo rushed out to meet Racine before the court wizard entered the kitchen.
Chime.
I tried again, but I instructed Elissa to wait even longer until after dinner was served. I had to wait a long time to see the results, but then the cooks had time to bring out the burnt food. I got to see Racine yell at the cooks about that, but it was before my wife had started the rumor, so the court wizard hadn’t overheard the gossip.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
I ran through several attempts, and I changed the timing ever so slightly back and forth until I could get Racine to enter the kitchen at the precise time that Bethy was telling Susan about the rumor.
“What?” Racine screamed in a voice full of rage that could be heard over the entire wizard’s wing.
I had a good view from my hiding spot of the court wizard stomping out of the kitchen with his face beet-red and his fists clenched in rage. I pumped my fist at the victory, but I had to test it just to make sure.
I stepped out from my hiding place and held up my hand to stop the court wizard in his tracks.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Out of my way!” Racine shouted, and spittle sprayed from his mouth. “I’m going to kill Arginold!”
The court wizard’s eyes were wide and full of anger, and his entire body shook with restrained violence, so he was clearly out of his mind with rage.
“Good.” I grinned. “Thanks for doing what you’re supposed to. I’m confident my plan will work now.”
Then I reset back to my save point in the kitchen. We’d succeeded in setting up a plot that would drive the court wizard into a murderous rage. Now, I just needed to work the duke’s side of my idea, and then they would be at each other’s throats, too blind with rage to notice me emptying the treasury.
“What are you thinking inside that head of yours, husband?” Elissa asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
I took a moment to look my wife up and down. Elissa was wearing her cute little maid’s costume, and it made me think about how amazing her acting skills had been during our subterfuge. She was truly incredible, and my cock hardened against the restraints of my pants.
“I’m thinking I want to fuck you right here and right now,” I growled in a voice full of desire.
“Oh?” Elissa’s face turned crimson, but she stepped up into my arms and tilted her head back to look at me. “But the cooks will be here at any moment…”
“That’s why we should be fast about it,” I suggested as my hands instinctively reached for her perky little ass cheeks. “It’s kind of fun to be dangerous sometimes, right?”
“Mmhmm,” Elissa purred, and then my mouth was on her throat, her collarbone, and her jawline as I devoured every inch of exposed skin with lips, tongue, and teeth. I tore at the part of her dress that covered her shoulders, and my tongue traveled over the freshly revealed smoothness as I traced lines from freckle to freckle.
“Oh, Bash…” my wife moaned as she lifted her leg up over my hip, and I gripped her thigh in my left hand while I supported her weight with my right hand on her lower back, but I didn’t relent my assault on her neck.
My Rube Goldberg Ocean Eleven style scheme was off to a good start, and I was so excited to see the end result that I was majorly turned on by my little actress wife’s mere presence.
I wanted her right there in the middle of the kitchen. Worst case scenario was we got caught, and then I could just reset again.
Either way, I was going to get what I wanted.
And what I wanted right now was to cum deep inside of her perfect little body.