The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“You do realize you outrank me now, right?” Brenhar says laughingly to Lisa.

“This was not in my plan.” Lisa complains.

“I believe life is making sauce out of your apple cart Hearth Daughter.”

“You just have to rub it in don’t you Bren?”

“Of course I do. This is the only payback I get now,” Brenhar says smiling, “This collar doesn’t permit more.”

“Did they happen to tell you why they chose Muren who has a consort over Tersa who doesn’t?”

“Yes.”

“Spill.”

“Is that an order my lady?” Brenhar asks with all innocence.

“You’re doing that on purpose, you’re pissing me off on purpose because you know I won’t upset the baby.”

“Exactly. I would try to steal your boyfriend away for the occasional night but that would just be redundant now wouldn’t it?”

“Good one Bren,” Lisa says laughing as tension relieves with the real laugh, “Well done. You know this is hard on me though don’t you?”

“Yes.” Brenhar says with sudden seriousness.

“Then why?”

“Because I finally understand that you are not my enemy.”

“Took you long enough.”

“I first had to accept that you saving your Familydom need not have to mean destroying mine.”

“If I save mine at the cost of yours I am merely trading lives, not saving any.”

“And that is why I can’t really fight you. I don’t know what you are planning now, I can’t see the way you can. I don’t have a second voice like you have with Charles. I have Lucas, but you provided him and I have yet to win his heart. Perhaps if I can someday I can fight you, or join you, I can’t decide until I can understand you.”

“Charles and Lucas have both indicated you think Charles and Myself are being easier on you than your own houses would be.” Lisa said shifting the subject.

“You are. They would have fought me being confirmed before I had a child to prove my worth. You punished with a collar, you made me a pet, you domesticated me. Yet you saved me. Your revenge and humiliation saved me and provided hope and a center for my Familydom and I have to wonder why.”

“Think on it.”

“I have. I have lain awake night after night trying to understand. As I look at each of your actions and Charles’, each of them says you both hate me. Yet if I look at all of them instead of each of them, I do not see that hate and I do not understand.”

“You are a pawn.”

“And I am hope.”

“Yes.”

“If you fall then you know Charles’s mind is preserved in my child. A deposit against fate and fortune.”

“Exactly.”

“Now you must enslave your own Land Sister just as you have your worst enemy.”

“I can’t stand the thought, yet I must.”

“Charles, if you trusted him then, could have told you what the Mothers would think of the child. He could have told you the child is a talisman.”

“I know.” Lisa whispers as tears find there way through her defenses.

“He is in your heart.” Brenhar states.

“Yes.”

“He or you put him in mine and that is how I have this child, that is why you can’t be with him again isn’t it?”

“How did you know?”

“Because you have pulled away from him. Whatever hold he had on your maids is over, yet you welcome them to his bed in your stead.”

“I can’t, I can’t take the chance.”

“Because you might be with child if you do again?”

“Yes.”

“Then I make this offer of my own free will. You can borrow Lucas as often as you wish, I’ll take Charles if you wish, to be fair. But both of you need to be held, do not come to hate your maids for fulfilling the part of his life you want for yourself. You already hate me, send him to me and hate me more if you must, but do not let yourself hate your maids.”

“Why do you care?” Lisa asks around tears.

“You know where I told you pawn to queens seven, check, before.”

“Yes.”

“Then this message may as well be from all our mothers, Rook to Queens Bishop seven, check.”

UC:Fates—Quartus

“I had not realized the sides of the school were mirrors.” Prince Tagoni of Dest says to Lisa and Charles, the Hearth Holders Ericson, in their dorm room at Centerversity.

“I hadn’t either until I used the other library one day.” Lisa replies as Nicole serves everyone drinks.

“How?” Prince Tagoni asked, “There are signs and warnings that Magists are not allowed and warded against as well.

“That is why we asked you here today.” Lisa tells him.

“How so?”

“We need you to think of Nicole as a Techist and tell her she is one when we say to.” Charles tells him with a grin.

“Ok, but why?”

“Trust us.”

“Ok.” He agrees, puzzled but willing to play along.

“On three, one, two, three.” Charles counts down with little warning.

“Nicole,” Tagoni says looking at her, “You are a Techist.”

“What?” She says looking over at him surprised, several seconds pass and then her eyes go wide with something like terror, “What? What is happening? What is wrong with me?”

“What happened?” Tagoni demands.

“She’ll adapt.” Lisa says laughing at the now collapsed Nicole whimpering beside Tagoni.

“For now, she’s a Techist, just as you are.”

“How?” Tagoni asks openly staring at Nicole who is rapidly subsuming to a panic attack.

“Now tell her she’s a Magist.”

“Ok, Nicole, you’re a Magist again.”

“Oh thank order.” Nicole whispers hearts later, eyes still wide with terror, “What is happening to me?”

“Tagoni can take your powers now.” Charles says laughing.

“He can what?” Nicole demands, rage attempting to hide terror it can’t supplant, but failing.

“He can make you a Techist any time he chooses, outwardly at least that is, you retain your knowledge and mindset, you simply have no magic until he returns it.” Lisa laughs, “As I said, he can do this at will now, like if he wants to keep a nice bed warmer here at school.”

“He may be in the Techist side of school.” Charles says grinning, “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be kept warm at night.”

“How?” Nicole demands in a panicky whisper.

“I can take powers. I can’t give them to those born without though.” Charles says seriously.

“You can’t even make flexible shields or induce enough motion to matter, yet you can take powers?” Nicole asks, sure there is something more going on but it refuses to show itself to her.

“Yes.”

“So I just tell her she is a Techist?” Tagoni asks.

“Words will work just fine, however with practice you should be able to just think it.” Lisa tells him.

“It works much like your arousal determining hers.” Charles laughs.

“So it is his arousal that is driving me insane. Every wiggle of a butt distracts him, but it is a shallow thing, passing, forgotten almost as soon as it is out of sight, or sooner if something more wiggly passes by.”

“That pattern is very male.” Charles laughs.

“Males tend to be attracted in a passive manner.” Lisa says, speaking as though giving, or at least repeating, a very familiar lecture, “It hits quick, it passes quick. Females on the other hand need more, yet we also have a deeper reaction.”

“And that deeper reaction takes longer to pass?” Tagoni asks.

“Yes.” Nicole admits turning red.

“As an experiment Prince.” Lisa says grinning a grin that Nicole has come to fear, “Close your eyes and envision Nicole very aroused and wanting to go down on you. Just form the picture in your mind, then try to imagine how it would feel.”

“No.” Nicole pleads in a whimper, having already experienced his incidental arousal.

“Ok.” Tagoni replies smiling as he does as asked.

“Please no.” Nicole whispers a dozen heartbeats later. Then her eyes go wide as her nipples distend and everyone in the room can tell by smell alone how aroused she is.

“Please.” Nicole whimpers panting as she drops to her knees in front of Tagoni. She can’t tell if she is asking for mercy or what, or whether mercy is stopping or not.

“Like that?” Tagoni asks grinning though not opening his eyes.

“Yes my prince.” Nicole answers, wanting to scream yet her voice comes out husky and slow.

“What?” he asks startled opening his eyes at her tone and then stares at her kneeling panting wanting, needing in fact, his permission to proceed.

“Please?” Nicole pleads, sick inside knowing it is not real, that what she is feeling is induced. It doesn’t matter though, even being fake it is real to her, she wants to suck off Tagoni, she wants it more than anything.

“So she will umm.”

“Yes.” Nicole pleads, screaming and crying on the inside, whispering sweet promises on the outside.

“She gets to influence how she carries out your desires, but she makes no decisions you don’t allow and will do exactly as you want her to do.”

“So how long does this last?”

“The condition she is in now or the situation?”

“More the situation.”

“Since I need to stay in contact with you.” Lisa says smiling at Nicole’s continued discomfort and her displeasure at panting in obvious heat as Tagoni’s fantasies evolve, “She remains with you until I no longer need to be able to reach you at a moment’s notice. I’m surprised you could arrange to come here so quickly, I thought it would be harder for you.”

“Not so hard.” Tagoni laughs as Nicole cringes and gulps at the word ‘hard’, “I had been considering coming here already. However schedules precluded it. I just put my foot down and informed them instead of trying to arrange.”

“I’m glad you were able to manage it so quickly.” Lisa said smiling as Nicole’s jaw began to quiver.

“How long will this last with her tonight?” Tagoni asked.

“She is subject to your whims and fantasies. Until and unless you get your fantasies under control, she will remain like this. So long as you just see her as sexual release, that’s all she is.”

“Is she still in there?”

“Yes.” Nicole manages to push out as an answer also bringing carnal sweat to her brow.

“She will express and act out every sexual or other fantasy you have until you have some other thought about her that is stronger.” Lisa told him.

“So if I were to envision her staying here powerless, having no other purpose than to service Charles as a sexual distraction so we can walk and talk of empires, she will?” Tagoni asks.

“Please, no.” Nicole whispers, then realizes she actually whimpered in pleading again.

“Any particular reason why?” Lisa asks.

“Because I know you two are linked somehow. If I can distract him with a toy like her, then I can be sure just the two of us are talking.”

“Interesting,” Lisa says intrigued, “Charles, would you care to play with a toy while Tagoni and I go discuss strategy?”

“I can hang.” Charles laughs staring at Nicole torn between the few remaining thoughts of her own, the desires induced in her by Tagoni and the knowledge that Charles can order even more deeply than Tagoni can. Further panic ensues since she knows Charles’ and Tagoni’s will and thoughts will become the whole of her world and she will remember them that way and how much she reveled in that obedience after she is herself once more. What she truly dreads though is knowing that every time it happens, some part of her wants it again, wants it more and wants it to be more, for her to be taken further.

“Are you ok Sien?” Micah asks in his dorm at eleventh bell as she crawled into the four post bed with curtain walls for privacy with him.

“Umm,” She answers unsure how to answer his question.

“You seem upset somehow?”

“I’m sorry.” She replied laying her head on his chest, “I’ve just been thinking, can I ask a question?”

“Of course.”

“At your house, with your family, why did you introduce me as your girlfriend?”

“Because I both think and consider chamber maid as inappropriate, and sex toy would have been degrading. I’ve been degraded enough in my life and I won’t pass that pain on, it never does any good to and doesn’t help me feel any better about myself either.”

“I didn’t realize your family was that poor. We’ve always had if not servants, at least those working for us around. We don’t really treat them like servants, but everyone knows their place.”

“What’s really bugging you?” Micah asks gently, even his inexperienced ear hearing more to that than just her words spoken out loud.

“Yen.”

“What about her?”

“She, we, are cousins of a sort, along with Nicole. All of us are old blood.”

“Old blood?” Micah asked as Sien’s hands wandered over him absently massaging muscles.

“We are all old diluted blood of the blood lords, we are strong, each of us has gifts.”

“And?” Micah asks.

“When we attacked Charles it felt great, it felt right, then it all felt wrong. I wish I could share the memory of that night. I saw then Third Heir Thomson, Hearth Daughter Ericson now, do something I still consider insane. Charles’s magic crossing ours had become a storm, the school shook as we fought, then she just walked into that storm. She just walked in and it barely stirred her hair.”

“Wow.”

“The worst part for me, us, at the time was we had no clue why. I mean he killed a seventh year student, youngest son of a full battle lord, a general in our standing army, right off. We threw raw power stirred with pure force at him and he danced with it, moved with it, then it became his. He was learning our magic as we fought, adapting to it, starting to use it while dust still hung in the air.”

“I’ve heard rumors, but nothing solid, nothing concrete.”

“Because no one there will talk about it, not really. All the witnesses are afraid, even the staff. That storm shook the school to its bones and she just walked through it. I know now she was, is, laced with his seed magic, like I am now.”

“You are? Even now?”

“Yes, then she saved Brenhar. He was about to kill her or take her mind, either would have shattered Michelson, making an easy opening for Thomson to overrun most of it, maybe even take it whole, but Lisa saved her, them, us. Then instead of heavy reparations which he had, has coming, they gave Brenhar, a tenth year, only twenty three years old, a child, Charles’s child, impossibly they gave her a child.”

“So it is his?” Micah asks.

“Yes. Now I, we, are bound by these collars. When we disobey our bodies are humbled, but not our minds. When I disobey and the collar does it’s job, I am distant from myself, not gone to the white bliss of humblement, I am still here, I still experience it all, I just have no control. I am trapped in my own body, I feel it all, I live it all, but I am just a passenger. I remember not merely doing as I am told or desired, but enjoying it, enjoying doing it, I remember it as though I had wanted to obey and reveled in that obedience. That is why I don’t fight. Even when I don’t want to, I obey because I know I will anyway, and this way I get to stay myself.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea that you, umm...” Micah mumbled reddening.

“It’s ok. I don’t know how long I will bear this collar, but thank you for thinking of me as a person, an independent person, if you didn’t I wouldn’t be. If you see me as a thing, I will be that thing. I am the living expression of how you see me, my only hope of staying myself is for you to see me as myself, otherwise I will become merely an extension of your sexual fantasies.”

“I would never.”

“Not on purpose, but it could happen anyway. I either accept what has happened, or risk no longer being myself, of no longer being; me.”

“Oh.’ Micah whispered as understanding began to dawn.

“So you are to be the father of my child.” Someone says greeting Charles as she enters his dorm days later.

“Who?” Charles asks looking up at a girl. ‘Young woman’, he corrects himself.

“I am Muren,” The hand and a half short of a fathom burgundy brunette says, “Second Heir of Thomson. I am told this is where the former Third Heir, now Hearth Daughter dwells.”

“Umm,” Charles stammers surprised, “Yeah.”

“That would make you Charles, jailer of Brenhar.” She asks and Charles is startled to see a trace of sympathy in the dark green eyes.

“Yes.” He answers taken aback at the openness of the smile and the caution in her stance and eyes.

“Can you really take someone’s powers?” She asks pulling up a chair and sitting on it backwards facing him across the desk where he sits studying.

“Yes. I don’t like to though.”

“Show me.”

“Why?”

“I’m curious and I’m supposed to end up in your bed anyway, so I may as well get started.”

“That seems cold.” Charles replies trying to study her through the false persona she projects.

“Forgive my somewhat blunt manner, but I was summoned to a full double council of the upper and lower branches after the events at spring of hearts. I found the Land and House Mothers already in attendance. Despite the number of funerals they have been attending and still have to go to.”

“Oh.”

“I was then informed I would be with child soon, between three and thirteen years early. I had anticipated some time before my freedoms were taken completely away by my responsibilities.”

“Sorry about that.” Charles mumbles, “It wasn’t my decision.”

“They said you would say that.”

“Who?”

“The Mothers, they said you are a humble man. I asked if they meant boy and they said no. Now I see what they meant, you aren’t afraid of me. You see me, and I mean really see me, right down to every trace of my power, I can feel you evaluating me, but I feel no fear in return for the sensed power, only curiosity. There are few males that aren’t afraid of me. I was as much out of place as Brenhar is now, though with less venom than she used to have.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember you at all despite the overlap. I spent my time avoiding becoming involved in anything, I would have avoided even the dance of wills except that I discovered we are graded on our standing in that as well.”

“Not many figure that out early on, how did you?”

“The structure of the school, grading that belonged in either extracurricular activities or in physical education and it wasn’t documented at all. It was the total lack of mention of a standard school activity that told me how important it is.”

“Spoken like a Techist, they also said you would do that.”

“Look,” Charles said with a sigh, “if you don’t want this I can just tell them I failed.”

“No you won’t. There is a lot hanging on this child. Lives literally hang in the balance.”

“They do?”

“Yes. Before you ask why, I’ll tell you. Fertility is power. Kelsini and Yasan are, according to rumor, considering an alliance with Hearthhold Ericson to shield them from Thomson and Michelson both.”

“What?”

“It will effectively give you a common border with some minor Familydoms that are so closely allied they may as well be Kallows or Dest directly. Perhaps a few with Donalson, but that is less sure.”

“That’s Lisa’s thing, not mine.” Charles protests thinking of the HearthHold.

“No, that’s both of your things. You lost less than a hundred out of eight thousand, just over a percent of them wanted out. The puppet Lucas’ family remains.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. On that subject, if you are going to give my child I want our first night to be just us. I want to get to know the man who will give me my first child.”

“Why do I suddenly get the idea that your reported Consort is far more reported than real?”

“Very good, as are my other paramours of course.”

“I take it he, they, are part of your image management?”

“Yes. He is a nice boy, but he will never truly be a man in my eyes, he is just a useful way of filtering or diverting pointless males away from me until I find one for myself worth pursuing.”

“Like I said, the whole Hearth Hold thing is Lisa’s. This whole situation has gotten too big for me, too much is happening.”

“They were right again, you see the details, but the bigger picture is hidden from you.”

“Bigger picture?”

“Michelson is going to fight Donalson, likely Dest at the same time, nothing can change that fact. What Lisa is doing is taking away possible partners to Donalson by making them allies and partners.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“She keeps you close because as good as she is with the big picture, she forgets details, the human side, the human price of her path.”

“Yeah.” Charles’ agreed thinking of the effects on Nicole and Yen.

“I don’t think she really understands that her chess pieces are really people on the inside.”

“I think I agree.” Charles replies startled that someone could put his thoughts into words so easily.

“She has always thought ahead, always planned ahead.”

“She gets going and sometimes forgets I’m here.”

“Her mother was much the same way, always making plans, though that came to naught.” Muren said staring at Charles intently.

“You knew her?”

“I was young, but yes, I knew her. Dad, my father, never really recovered from her loss. You have to understand, we had already had his funeral when they were found.”

“You had? I saw the tomb, well I was there, didn’t get a chance to really look around though.”

“Not much to see.” Muren said suddenly looking away, “Just a hole in the ground with a few decorations to remember her by.”

“Did you like her?”

“Yes.” Muren answered turning back. “She was kind to me. My mom, House Mother Thomson, took her in and made her welcome, she was after all a miracle and had helped keep my dad alive. I think Mom always envied that special closeness you get from surviving something like that cave in though.”

“Then she died?”

“Then she died.” Muren agreed, “And Dad was never the same again.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It’s not your fault. Mom, both moms that is, took his loss hard. Dad died the year before I started school here. Then Grandma stepped down when her fertility went. You know the little girl you met that hung way back and looked scared?”

“Yeah, no one introduced her and I was curious about that but with so much going on I forgot.”

“You were supposed to ignore her. She is my youngest sister, now the Third Heir, the Mothers got used to having a Third Heir so they decided to keep having one. Mom was pregnant with her when Dad went. She will likely have her first period soon, then she will start school here. Lisa’s mother’s pregnancy was hard, eighteen months instead of fifteen, then the birth was hard as well. Tersa, myself and Mindy now, are the hope of the future for Thomson.” Muren replied looking away again.

“Did you say Mindy?” Charles asks as some stray thought nags at him.

“Yes.” Muren answers looking back at him, “Why?”

“I guess someone must have introduced us, the name sounds familiar.”

“You’re probably thinking of Minuet, our fourth, or is it fifth?, cousin.” Muren replied firmly, “She was around but carefully avoided making herself a part of things. There was much talk of her, she enjoys rumor and innuendo.”

“Sounds about right, I could’ve, oh never mind. She’s harmless I take it?”

“Yes, very harmless, no one views her as more than a gossip magnet.”

“Anyway then,” Charles replied putting the subject away, “is there a reason for stopping by when you know Lisa won’t be here besides wanting to interview me?”

“Not really, other than curiosity about the man who caught Lisa’s eye that is.”

“So fewer people to report to then on my evaluation?”

“More or less.” Muren laughed hoping he would keep misreading the situation.

“Then how about I go grab a snack early so you can report back on your astonishment that I happen to seem human and sane?” Charles laughs rising, “I could use a break anyway.”

“I’m surprised you understand.”

“I’m an understanding sort of person. You should use one of the mirrors in here or in Brenhar and Lucas’ dorm. I’ve altered them so that if communications might not be private, the color you see is changed.”

“I had heard they might not be completely private.”

“I discovered that while I was learning to fix them.”

“I will bear that in mind then,” Muren said watching Charles grab a coat and head out.

“I’ll be a while, take your time.” Charles said closing the door behind him.

“Mothers.” Muren said a short while later when both were on mirror.

“Any clue?”

“None. He reacted to the name Mindy, but nothing specific.”

“Then be sure not to mention to him that she is named after Lisa’s mother.”

“I will. He is disconcerting in person. He is here and talks to you, yet he isn’t here.”

“Noticed that did you?” Land Mother Thomson laughed.

“Has he any clue why we made the HearthHold?” House Mother Thomson asked.

“He doesn’t think at that level. He owns everything to the horizon of his vision, yet is ignorant of what lay beyond it.” Muren replied.

“Any clue how his parents took the news of new rank?”

“I don’t believe he has told them yet.”

“What?”

“I think he has actively hidden it from them.”

“Why?”

“He is fifth born here. He doesn’t get our world, I believe he thinks his older siblings or even parents may be able to lay claim to all or at least part.”

“Preposterous...” Land Mother Thomson says then stops cold, “No, that would fit.”

“That would be why he requested he himself not be named until summer solstice when they are formally vested.” House Mother Thomson said with furrowed brows as she tried to follow whatever Charles had been thinking.

“I have also discovered that Prince Tagoni of Dest is here now.”

“He is?”

“Yes, and has a chamber maid.”

“He does?”

“Yes. A Nicole from Michelson.”

“As expected.”

“What about her being his chamber maid in his dorm in the Techist side of school?”

“What? That’s impossible.”

“Not true, anyone who doesn’t disrupt the technology is welcome you know.” Muren replied.

“Nicole does. Her family tries to hide it, but we all know she along with her cohorts stayed in Brenhar’s shadow because they are all blood of the Blood Lords. They can trace their lineage back to the Sync Wars.”

“Yet I have seen her enter and leave the Techist side. I have been watching them all for days before greeting Charles when I knew Lisa would be busy elsewhere.”

“Then it is true, he can take powers.”

“It would appear so Mothers, it would appear so. Also, both he and Lisa still bear those rings of the Legent style marked U C Fates.” Muren replied.

“Odd, given that the Legents denied Charles being one of theirs.” Muren said moments later as a thought ran around her brain.

“We will come to understand in time.” Land Mother Thomson said.

“For now, we have pressing business to attend to, go with order.”

“Go with order Mothers.” Muren replied steeping away from the mirror and watched the mirror show her simple reflection once more.

“I wonder what that was all about?” She asked moments later then dismissed the question as she began inspecting the dorm.

“I have this sinking suspicion.” Land Mother Thomson said looking across the room.

“I fear you may be right, it is of course ridiculous though.” House Mother Thomson replied.

“I think we shouldn’t ask that question though. Not even in the privacy of our own minds.”

“I fear you are correct.”

“Later?”

“Much Later.”

“Your bath awaits Prince.” Nicole said greeting Tagoni when he returned to his dorm after fencing and spear lessons.

“Please,” He said shedding sweaty armor, “It’s just Tagoni here at school, especially when it is just us.”

“Yes sir.” Nicole replied taking the layered armor one piece at a time and laying it out.

“A question for you.” He said pausing staring at her, “How is it that for the last Moon you have never missed a day of having my bath drawn and you are waiting here for me?”

“I umm,” Nicole replied turning red, “I can feel your exertion.”

“Feel my exertion?” He asked continuing because his abused muscles refused to wait.

“Yes. I can tell when you are doing something strenuous. It has a different feel than when you are doing your art or history classes, and very different than the military tactics.”

“You know what classes I’m taking? Oh, you looked at my schedule.”

“No sir. You did not give me permission to look at your schedule. It’s that I can feel it. Like how I am here, you see me as your Techist chamber maid when I am here so my powers fade at the touch of the wards on the entrance. They return when I exit.”

“So every night you lose your powers?”

“Yes sir.”

“And you bend your schedule to meet what happens to me?”

“Yes sir.”

“How can you? My schedule here is easily as intense as the one at home, I can barely keep up, yet you are not only keeping up your studies but being my chamber maid as well.”

“We have a different structure on our side, we have two overlapping schedules. Our classes are spaced on the bell offset by half a bell between sets. That enables us to move around in the classes that interest us and not everyone has to eat at the same time.”

“Odd, what about tests?”

“Tests happen by the fortnight sometimes, but mostly by the moon, so long as we test well we can do as we will. I have always done well and the collar has not changed that. I am still learning, still able to do more. I have been arranging my schedule so the classes I am ahead in are the ones that correspond with the times you will or do want me here.”

“Your tests happen on the fortnight or the moon?”

“Yes sir.”

“We have tests every week on freir.”

“That would serve no purpose for us. It takes weeks to take each step with Magic. Some spells we study for over a year on before we get them, though mostly they are small and easy and the classes are really for helping us learn control, not the spells themselves. The tests are merely to ensure we are making progress, not to measure us on a scale.”

“Our progress is very linear.”

“We don’t even use that word, I assume it means steady progress?”

“Yes, it does.”

“For us breakthroughs happen at irregular intervals.”

“Randomly?” Tagoni asks startled.

“Yes. Charles uses that word a lot. I looked it up so I would understand.”

“Odd.”

“Your bath is cooling, without my magic I can’t keep it warm. If you delay much longer I may have to draw you another.” Nicole said retreating into her role to get away from subjects beyond her current place.

“Of course, thank you.” Tagoni said looking forward to Nicole being her usual efficient self.

“You’re welcome.” Nicole said feeling herself shift mentally to meet his now aroused expectations and then losing her clothes as she prepares to join him in his bath.

“Sorry what?” Muren asks as she wakes in Charles’ dorm. She can remember doing as she has done numerous times over the last weeks and allowed Charles to guide her into a talking sleep. Normally she is left with vague memories, this time she wakes disoriented, with something different.

“Are you ok?” Charles asks.

“Yes, I’m fine I think.” She replies remembering for some reason the first night she had spent with Charles at her own insistence. He had been hesitant and caring. It had been obvious that he knew very little, yet was trying so hard she had taken pity on him and began teaching him how a girl really liked things.

“Say sugar plum.” He ordered.

“Sugar plum.” Muren echoed and felt an echo. A touch, or something like a touch ran along her nerves taking her breath for a heartbeat then returning it as her mouth went dry.

“How does that feel?”

“Wonderful.” She panted as she felt herself respond to some unseen but oh so felt thing.

“And this?” He asked running a hand along her jaw just as she had taught him.

“Oh.” Muren whispered with a quivering jaw as her body announced in no uncertain terms what it wanted, and wanted now.

“I take it that works?”

“Yes.” She whispered knowing the feeling was his doing, but unable to care at the moment.

“And this?” He asked reaching out through the seed magic she is laced with.

“What?” She gasps, the mood suddenly broken as the castle goes silent. She thinks she is deaf until she notices she can still hear her own breathing, yet the normal noise of the castle is just gone.

“Sorry, should have warned you.” Charles said grimacing, “I took your powers. You are at this moment completely powerless, just like a Techist.”

“Incredible.” She whispered as surprise held off arousal, for the moment.

“I am now sure I can do something for you.”

“What is that?”

“How would you like to not have a collar?”

“What? I thought the collar was needed.”

“Not really. That’s what I’ve been doing is finding a way around the collar.”

“You mean I could have already been with child?” Muren asked stunned.

“Easily, if I put you in the collar you could be with child three days after the next moon.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because you are not a killer, you are a victim if truth be told.”

“Then after Winter’s bane?”

“We call it Spring’s folly or Furrow’s run here, but yes.”

“I appreciate the effort of not putting me in a collar, I truly do, but I will need one anyway.”

“Why?”

“It’s a political thing.”

“I don’t want to put you in one, it’s cruel.”

“If you don’t put me in a collar I will be forced to tell your parents you are about to be gifted along with Lisa to the HearthHold Ericson, as HearthSon.” Muren threatened jokingly to gauge his reaction and to tease him.

“No.” Charles yelled and Muren felt herself curl into a fetal position. The seed magic in her conveyed what Charles felt exactly as he felt it, and he is panicky as well as enraged.

“Calm...down...please.” Muren pleads as pain and fear and terror dance along her nerves turning clear thought into circles built of panic and mental pain.

“Don’t you dare, I, said, No!” Charles orders flatly and Muren is carried along as the command burns into her very nerves and echoes in her mind driving thoughts and finally herself away.

“It’s ok Charles,” Lisa says entering a short while later in response to a horrible feeling carried across the link between them, “sleep now.”

“Sleep.” Charles mumbles as he retreats into humblement away from the mind numbing panic fed back to him through Muren holding his hand in her own panic.

“Muren?” Lisa asks hesitantly when her eyes finally open.

“How? What in Chaos name was that?”

“What happened?”

“I was telling him he needed to put the collar on me.”

“Why? I mean I know it has to happen, but not until break.”

“No, he said he found a way around that. That he could give me the child without leaving the collar on me, maybe even without needing it at all.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I am sorry Hearth Daughter, that is an internal Thomson affair. I can only say that it is part of negotiations between Familydoms. I can add though that I must be able to stand beside Brenhar and be seen as an equal.”

“Oh.”

“I am truly sorry, but I have my orders and they are very specific.”

“You are to be collared, just as Brenhar is?”

“Yes, exactly as she is. I am to be and must be seen to be publicly collared just as she is, the same, we must be equals in that light.”

“Then who will be your keeper? Jorin?” Lisa asked referring to Muren’s obvious favorite of her small collection of bed warmers to insure the Familydom believed she was shopping around among the suitors that always appeared near Heirs.

“No, he is just another way to keep people from pestering me. A nice boy, but not to be the father of my children even if Charles had not come along.”

“Then who?”

“Either Charles or if Brenhar will consent, Lucas.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“They mean to...”

“Only if you fail.”

“Then why the Hearth Hold?”

“In case you succeed.”

“Would you like a collar that works, but nothing of what the Mothers want?” Lisa asked as her mind went in circles at the idea of the Hearth Hold becoming the center of an alliance. She had considered this possibility of course, but the Mothers are far ahead of what she had expected from them this early in the game.

“What?”

“Come,” Lisa said heading to the door, “Charles will keep. I’ll send him to regular sleep after we leave.”

“You can do that?” Muren asked rising.

“Yes.”

“Where are we going?” Muren asked as the door closed.

“Three doors down.” Lisa replied with a smile.

“Why?”

“You’ll see.” She replied opening the door.

“Who is that?” Muren asked staring at the young man laying on the bed obviously humbled.

“He was Terl.”

“Was?”

“Yes, was.” Lisa replied with a grimace, “He is the one who cast the spell that actually killed Sinda.”

“Oh.”

“I have been experimenting, tying to understand what Charles does.”

“And?”

“And I broke him by accident. Charles is able to see magic much better than I am so I missed the signs when I went too far.”

“He sees magic?”

“Yes. He has this way of looking at things that is different, much like a Techist.”

“And this formerly Terl?” Muren asked changing the subject in response to her suddenly hollow stomach.

“He is not what, or who, he once was.”

“Then what is he?”

“A way of skirting the rules.”

“How, in what way?”

“As I said, I broke him.” Lisa admitted with a grimace, “He is, was left, blank, I took his mind by accident, there was nothing left.”

“And now?”

“Now he is a test.”

“Come on Lisa,” Muren said as a sibling for just a moment, “Spill, don’t make me drag it out of you.”

“I accidentally took his mind, so I took his seed magic as well.”

“And? I know that tone, spill.”

“I replaced his seed magic with Charles’s. By combining Charles’s and mine, I was eventually able to make Terl’s body produce Charles’s seed magic. Further...”

“Further?” Muren hisses, “That is dark magic, the Legents took down the blood lords for that sort of thing.”

“Actually, no. They took down the blood lords for the wars. The blood lords are why there are no male Magist houses and effectively no female Seed Magic.”

“Are you sure? I’ve read the histories.”

“And I talked with the Legents, they both told and showed me what they did what they did and why.”

“You’ve talked with them, they preserved the records?”

“No, they showed their memories.”

“You mean they really are?”

“Yes, they really are The Legents.”

“Oh sweet Chaos.”

“Anyway, Terl is now a bad copy of Charles. Terl has many of his memories, most in fact, yet he is only a puppet that requires his strings be pulled.”

“What does he have to do with me?”

“After the celebration would you like a young consort you can control. You would still bear a collar, but that collar would actually control him via the collar he will wear. Though to the world at large Terl will seem to be Terl, he will be your puppet, as bound to you as Nicole is to Tagoni or Sien to Micah. That is as much autonomy as I can give you. Terl, if he survived as himself would be collared like the rest, held for life like the rest, but that serves no purpose now.”

“And it is a nod toward the Mother’s backup plan if you fail or fall.” Muren stated.

“Yes.”

“One of ours will be the Michelson Consort, one of theirs will be the Thomson Consort.”

“If I fall, the Hearthhold becomes the new seat of government for either the new Familydom incorporating both of you and possibly Kelsini and Yasan as well? Or the seat of the alliance?”

“Exactly what they intend.” Muren confirmed, grimacing at further proof the mothers are not paranoid enough about Lisa despite their best efforts and the guarantees of the pools of strategists.

“Yet the crossed consorts are peace allowing them to concentrate on the real threats.”

“Why hasn’t Charles told his parents he is the Hearth Son to be seated at Summer Solstice?”

“Because he is afraid.”

“Of what?”

“We know it can’t happen, but of one of his older siblings trying to claim a place there.”

“Only if he and you allowed it, and they have no claim on the seat anyway.”

“He has been told, yet does not really know. He only knows the traditions here.” Lisa said quietly.

“You have full access to female Seed Magic then?” Muren asked changing the subject yet again.

“Yes. Charles showed me what he did and how, then showed me how to find and start using my own.”

“Then I am to be with this Terl publicly until the ceremonies, after which I will do much as Brenhar has done, only I will be keeping my keeper, not kept by him?”

“Exactly.” Lisa said grinning feraly, “I didn’t intend to break him, but he is broken and there is no point in throwing away a tool that can still be used.”

“I sense a plan within a plan.” Muren accused.

“True, yet I have to keep some secrets.”

“So how will this work.”

“Lower your shields, I will humble you, take the seed magic I need from you, then start in.”

“Ok.” Muren said and the world went white for a heartbeat.

“Ok.” Lisa said waking Muren. It felt only a moment, yet the clock claimed a quarter bell had passed.

“What the?” Muren mumbled, she ached all over as though she had been exerting herself.

“Sorry about that, had to break him in properly. He’s fully interactive now.”

“He is?”

“Yes. Give him an order.”

“Terl, undress.” Muren joked.

“Yes mistress” He said rising from the bed and undressing.

“Now envision him doing something.” Lisa said with a laugh.

“Ok.” Muren replied then laughed with delight when Terl began stroking himself erect while staring at her.

“Like?” Lisa asked.

“That’s weird.” Muren replied, “I can feel umm, him...”

“With time and practice you won’t need to give him a direct order, just think what you want and he will.”

“As long as I want?”

“As long, as hard, as often, in whatever way you want.” Lisa confirmed.

“And he produces Charles’ seed magic?”

“Yes, but not his seed. That function, sorry, process, thing, happening, is controlled by a fusion of Charles and my Seed Magics. The body itself is controlled by a fusion of your and Charles’ Seed Magics now. He is loosely associated with me. That means I can feel it if you tell him to speak to me, it’s not much more than a mirror me...”

“But much better than searching for you.”

“Exactly.” Lisa confirmed, “Later, if you want once I figure out more, I can alter him so that your and Charles’ seed Magics work together in him fully instead of partly mine.”

“This is who, or would that be what? You’ve been using instead of Charles, in his place?”

“Yes.” Lisa admitted.

“I take it you could best Brenhar’s record easily?”

“I could be with child tomorrow if I were careless.”

“That explains the agony I see on your face when Sinda and Sandy join Charles in his bed.”

“I sometimes borrow them, but it’s not the same.”

“Borrow them?”

“Sorry,” Lisa said then laughed as she laid down on the floor.

“I forgot to mention a couple of things.” Terl said in a voice much like Lisa’s.

“Lisa?” Muren asked in a whisper.

“Yes Muren, it is me. This is how I saw the bomb. I was peeking through Brenhar and saw it through Charles’ eyes and hers at the same time.” Terl continues much to Muren’s discomfort.

“That’s, that is just wrong.”

“It is also the only reason our Mothers are alive.”

“They told me, but I thought they meant something else. I’m not sure what, but not this.”

“It also feels weird.” Lisa admitted, “Charles still laughs at one thing though.”

“What? And can you talk to me yourself please.”

“Sorry.” Terl says for Lisa then stands blankly as she finishes for herself, “When he and Bren fought he crippled her Magics and her coordination. When I suggested he fix that so no one would suspect what he could do, he did that to Bren and did that ceremony thing people are still trying to figure out.”

“Must have been fun to watch.”

“Like I told him later, even when he is one, he doesn’t walk much like a girl.”

“So the whole ceremony thing?” Muren asked with a laugh struggling to get out, manifesting itself as giggles.

“Was Charles making something up as he went along.”

“No wonder our archives people are puzzled.”

“The ceremony they are trying to find doesn’t exist. Should have seen Brenhar in the first few days trying to figure out why she didn’t remember doing it.” Lisa said starting to laugh.

“Oh sweet Chaos and Order I wish I could have been here to watch.” Muren admitted and for a few minutes they were mere sisters again, the world driven away by the comforts of a remembered home they grew up in. The decade between them gone for a time in shared memories of a time and a place that will never be again for either of them.

“Stop, stay.” Prince Tagoni ordered Nicole just as his erect tip touched her, ready to enter with the slightest move, yet freezing her in place.

“Yes my prince.” Nicole said in a whisper as quivering muscles held her so close his almost touch, not quite in her tickled as she breathed.

“I have some questions.” Tagoni said smiling at her discomfiture.

“Of course my Prince.” She said trying to breath gently so as not to tease herself with her breathing as the touch of him pretended to stroke her.

“Why is the Magist side of the school so unstructured?” He asked staring at the nude girl over him wanting him in her because he wants in her.

“It is not unstructured.” She answered torn between the carnal desire born of his lust given to her by the collar she wore and the need combined with desire to obey given her by the same collar.

“Then explain the structure.” Tagoni ordered lifting himself up until just his tip disappeared and then envisioned her lifting off him forcing her body to do so.

“Magic has a different structure.” Nicole answered barely able to dredge up words she has learned to use with him, forcing them past dry lips and a dryer mouth.

“How so?” He asked settling down again then stroking her but refusing to see her climax thus holding her at the first edge of one, yet unable to even move.

“It is umm...” Nicole stammered as her mind and body came out of sync.

“How so?” He repeated flicking a distended nipple.

“Gahh,” She gasped as discordant reaction drove her away from herself.

“How so?” He demanded and stroked her once.

“It takes longer to learn and is harder to do.” She heard herself pant.

“Why?” He demanded as he pushed his tip just in her, teasing.

“No two people have the same magic.” She gasped distantly.

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.” She gulped as his hand cupped and caressed first one breast then the other, “Magic has to be learned individually. Families have trends, but nothing solid.”

“So magic can’t be directly replicated.” He asked staring at her over him sweating in desire and exertion.

“Correct.” She replied feeling his eyes on her, his desire to be in her, the desire to have him in her that brought on and the need of her own to remain herself.

“Do you yourself want me or is it just what the collar makes you want?” He demanded.

“There is no difference anymore. You are aroused, you want me, so I want you.” Nicole admitted.

“What is important to you then?”

“That I stay myself.” She answered honestly, surprising herself.

“Then I have a question.” Tagoni said seeing in his minds eye her lowering herself to satisfy them both.

“Whatever you want to know.” Nicole gasped in relief as she felt him fill her until their hips met and relief spread in her as she relaxed.

“Would you rather go home for Winter’s Bane or come with me as my mildly talented Magist girlfriend?”

“Mildly talented?”

“Yes. I believe I can just see you with little enough talent you don’t disrupt Tech and all will be fine.”

“It shall be as my lord wishes.” Nicole replies as she rises up only to push down again as he desired.

“No, this time you shall choose.”

“Why?” She pleads caught in the cycle Tagoni imposes on her.

“Because I said so.” He says watching the sweat drip as she pushes him in desperately seeking that release promised her if only she will choose.

“I...” Nicole gasps and sees another trap. If she chooses to go home she is running away and that risks being pulled back by being withdrawn. If she goes with him, she takes another step in actually becoming inside as well as outside what he wants, desires, or apparently might need.

“Lucas dear.” Brenhar said hesitantly looking in the mirror as she readies herself for her twesday meeting with the healers who are monitoring her condition.

“Yes Bren.” Lucas replies from the bath area.

“Did you happen to tell the lady you had make my replacement winter dress to leave a little extra room to be let out?”

“Yes,” Lucas laughed, “Do we need to go see her before spring break?”

“I suppose I could have it altered at home, but since she went to the trouble of making it.”

“No we can’t go have the dress altered instead of your appointment.” Lucas replied, “But we can after if you would like.”

“Lucas!” Bren grunted in frustration.

“Sorry, but your Mothers were rather specific on you being monitored.” He replied, “If you will remember I was the one who insisted the healers and doctors here would have much more reference material available.”

“I know.” Brenhar replied with a sigh, “It’s just that this is getting old. I’m getting big too soon, I know that, I’m only three moons along and I look five or six. Another moon and I will have a real belly.”

“You look just fine.”

“Now you’re just trying to be nice.”

“Bren, they are concerned. You look like you might be having twins somehow, they checked and you know I mean really checked since it only happens a few times a century. There are none living right now to compare with, but you aren’t, so don’t worry about it please. We can skip class this afternoon and go get the dress taken care of. It’s not like either of us is going to hurt anything missing a few classes.”

“I’m sorry.” Brenhar replies feeling defeated, “It’s just that I’m supposed to be a person to the healers and doctors and a handy sex object to you, yet I’m a thing to them and a person to you?”

“Do you really want us to switch roles?” Lucas asked coming out of the bath area already dressed.

“No, I just want them to remember I’m still here.”

“I would like that myself.”

“You would?”

“Yes, I doubt you noticed since I don’t stick around while they examine you intimately, but they have their fair share of tests for me as well.”

“They do?”

“Oh yes. You getting pregnant at your tender years is only half the puzzle they see, they think I got you pregnant and they want to know how.”

“Is that why you avoid the short dark skinned doctor with the whiny voice?”

“Yes. She keeps wanting me to provide more samples and tries to tempt me with different nurses hoping to find one I like.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Brenhar said with a sudden grin, “That I can put a stop to at once.”

“You can?”

“Yes, easily.” She said grinning broadly as the dress finally wiggled into place, “They touch anything that belongs to me and I remove hands. I’ll Mirror the Land Mother from the examination room and explain the situation.”

“Whoah, don’t drag me into the middle of an inter Family Incident.”

“Not a problem, this will also serve to remind them I’m still me.”

“Mother, Father,” Charles says entering the house of his parents, “Can we speak for a while?”

“Of course son.” Charles’s father, Jacob says, “I must ask though who your guests are, I don’t recognize any of them.”

“I am Muren.” Muren says with a genuine smile stepping aside so everyone can form a line.

“I am Brenhar.”

“I am Lucas.”

“And I am Lisa.”

“I’ve heard of you.” Charles’ Mother, Sara, says smiling, “He has spoken of you when he has had time to visit home this year. Are you the one he helped clean the library over winter fort as part of some community works project?”

“Yes ma’am.” Lisa replies laughing, “You could say that I am.”

“We are here for a number of reasons,” Brenhar says hesitantly.

“Is he in trouble?” Jacob asks.

“Quite the opposite.” Brenhar laughs, “You have no reason to recognize me, but I am Brenhar of Michelson, Heir Primus.”

“You’re that Brenhar?” Sara says eyes dropping to her belly that loose dresses can no longer completely hide.

“Yes ma’am, I am.”

“Is there a problem?” Jacob asks nervously. Having a head of a major Familydom just drop in was generally not a good sign.

“Not at all.” Muren replied also smiling, “We are actually here on official business.”

“Official business?”

“Yes sir,” She replied holding out an envelope, “This is a draft on Centerversity refunding all of your resources put into Charles’ education.”

“Draft?”

“Yes sir.”

“For what again?”

“That sir.” Brenhar breaks in, “Repays you every hour of your labor and other resources you have put into Charles’ education in whole.”

“Why?”

“His education is now paid for in whole.” Muren tells them.

“I don’t understand?” Sara replies puzzled.

“I am Lisa,” Lisa says taking a deep breath, “Lady Lisa Ericson.”

“Hearth Daughter Ericson?” Sara asks stunned.

“Yes ma’am.”

“You are paying for his education?”

“No ma’am.” Lisa says hesitantly, “I am merely explaining.”

“What my blood sister and former Third Heir to my Second is hesitating about.” Muren laughs, “Is that this is a gift from the Familydoms Thomson.”

“And Michelson.” Brenhar adds.

“To Hearth Son Ericson.” Muren finishes.

“Hearth Son?” Charles’s parents whisper staring.

“Your son is my partner,” Lisa says simply, “My equal and one day, my chosen when it is time.” She continues with a tentative smile. Her true emotions hidden so well that even she has no clue what she actually feels any longer. A distant part of her distracts the rest of herself thinking about what it must be like for Brenhar, then running from that as well.

“How?”

“You heard about the events at the lake by the border between Thomson and Michelson?” Lucas asks.

“Yes.” Jacob replies staring.

“Your son is part of the reason the Mothers of Thomson and Michelson survived. Had he not been with and helping Lisa we would have died, our Mothers would have died and war would have already reached out swallowing both.”

“You helped save them?” Jacob asks staring at his son.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sara asks.

“Due to his bravery your son is now caught in events involving the fates of Familydoms. We are here to petition you to release him.”

“Release him?” Jacob asks suspiciously.

“Yes. If you will consent, we have a cover story in place that he was not doing well enough in school and stumbled into an apprenticeship in Dest.”

“Dest?” Sara asked, “Isn’t that Techist.”

“One moment.” Charles said as the other expected guest knocked on the door.

“Ma’am, Sir.” Tagoni said entering with Nicole in tow.

“Hello?” Charles’s parents greet him.

“Bren, Muren, I have arrangements made as best I can. However it would be best if they removed any sign of him ever having been.” Tagoni says shrugging apologetically at Charles.

“Why?” Brenhar asks.

“You know the way you get answers that are just too pat, when your underlings are too efficient?”

“That bad?”

“I don’t know why, but that bomb has had repercussions back home, major ones that make no sense at all.”

“Bomb? Back home?” Jacob whispers, “Who are you?”

“Sorry,” Tagoni frowns, “I’m used to back home where everyone knows me, Prince Tagoni of Dest, fifth in line for the throne.”

“Prince?” Sara whispers in shock, even more royalty in her living room.

“I don’t know what you have or have not been told but this is the way it is. Your son, Charles, now Hearth Son Ericson, was instrumental in stopping a political assassination by way of a bomb. He and Lucas, Brenhar’s Consort, were able to get the bomb away from the Mothers, but not all the people. Though about a hundred were lost, together they saved thousands. Make no mistake, had he, they, not acted, the resulting war could have cost a hundred thousand lives, maybe more depending on other factors.”

“Our Charles?” Jacob says staring at him.

“If you value your own lives and love him, let him go.” Tagoni tells them, “Never speak his name again, tell his siblings the same. Remove all pictures of him, redecorate his room and be sure to never forget to be vigilant. Because we still don’t know who set the bomb, we can’t protect him or you, if they should come looking for him in revenge.”

“Lucas is safe with me for his part.” Brenhar tells them, “Security on a pregnant Heir Primus outside of school is quite solid after all, they can be as crude and blunt as they wish and no one wonders why. Though with my recent change of status the school has had to live with a more direct involvement here, it is still not enough to make my mothers, House and Land alike, happy.”

“But we can’t really protect Charles because we don’t know what we are protecting him or ourselves from.”

“Which means you can’t protect us either?” Jacob asks.

“Yes.” Lisa says sadly, “Your son helped save many many lives, yet we must repay him by taking away the only life he has ever known.”

“So we have to lose our son to keep him and us both alive and safe?” Jacob asks sadly, an odd look out of place on his face instead of the expected grimace.

“I am sorry.”

“Are you his or is he yours?” Sara asks hesitantly.

“We are each other’s.” Lisa answers.

“Mom.” Charles says quietly.

“I know,” Sara replies, “It’s just good to finally see you with someone you get along with.”

“I’ll take good care of him.” Lisa says softly, “I swear it, you have my word.”

“Thank you.”

“Now what?” Jacob asks.

“I have arranged with someone I know who is good at helping people disappear with little or no trace to come and help.” Tagoni tells them, “Nicole will remain to help him and his assistant. They will be going over the house looking for things that point to Charles or bear his imprint. It must all go, or be cleansed of his presence. They have charms with them that will aid them in detecting what is relevant.”

“We will go now, give you time to say goodbye.” Brenhar says moving to the door.

“May I use your bathroom please?” Lucas asks looking toward the kitchen area.

“Of course, through the kitchen.”

“Thank you, I’ll only be a moment.” Lucas replies. He stops at the cold box, the place you store food that should be kept chilled. For Techists it is a machine that makes it cold inside. For Magists it is an upright box bound by a spell that separates heat from cold. Either way they tend to be very near to the stove and this one is no exception. What pauses him though is the thing that drew him, a family picture years old showing all the children and some friends of the family. Just one face in particular holds his attention though. It is an older lady, many years in fact older looking, yet undeniably the same as the portrait that hangs, now behind a shroud, in the Shrine of Lisa’s Mother. The same picture that Brenhar took Charles’ memory of and ordered Lucas to take her memory of doing so, yet here she is again in another place. Further proof, as if the empty tomb were not enough, that the waters he swims in are deep indeed.

“That was the last time we were all together at one time.” Sara says seeing him staring.

“He looks happy there.” Lucas lied, “Can I take this as a present for him later, a surprise. I know we have to erase him to protect you both, but I think he might need a reminder of home later.”

“The consort of an Heir Primus should be a better liar than that.” She replies taking the picture down.

“What?”

“You need to practice young man.” She says with an out of place smile.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Lucas stammered.

“Better, you need to project more indignity while looking them in the eye, but without glaring at them while you do it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Much better.” She said with a genuine smile offering the picture, “You need a picture showing all of us so what ever agents you assign knows who to keep an eye on.”

“There are no agents assigned.”

“Say what ever you need to say young man, I don’t blame you. I don’t have a clue what really happened. But whatever it was prompted the two largest Familydoms on the continent to put a permanent barrier between them. That means the bomb or whatever it was, was neither of their doing and somehow they both know it. That also means they have a common enemy they haven’t identified and they both know that as well. That means they need to protect our Charles and yourself, while keeping an eye on your families as well. Who ever managed to put the bomb in place is going to be pissed and wanting to strike at you both. That means since attacking you two directly is impossible, they will attack us instead.”

“Assuming for a moment that were true...” Lucas starts in.

“It is. You are making a firebreak. If they get us, there is nothing to lead them to Charles, if they get him, then there is nothing to lead them back to us.

“I’m sorry.” Lucas tells her tucking the picture away in his satchel.

“Go, do what needs to be done.”

“Thank you for understanding.” Lucas tells her as he rejoins the group, the bathroom forgotten.

“Good luck son.” Jacob and Sara tell their son for what will likely be the last time they will see him for many years to come. They are surprised when Nicole remains behind.

“I am sorry to impose,” She tells them after everyone has gone, “But I have to wait for someone and I also have a question for you.”

“Go ahead.” Jacob replies motioning toward seats.

“Thank you.” Nicole says sitting down debating how to ask a question that carries more weight than she expected it would, “I do not know a nice way to ask, so here it is; why does Charles never talk about his siblings?”

“That’s complicated.”

“I’ve known him for months now, I know he is fifth born, yet not once has he mentioned his brothers or sisters, or met them at school despite him obviously having two of them there.”

“This may seem odd to you, but he doesn’t get along with his siblings very well. His oldest brother and sister are better Magists than he is, and the other two are both better Techists than he is.”

“What?” Nicole asks shocked that a family could have mixed talents.

“Charles has always been alone because he thinks like a Techist, yet he has magic. His mind works not quite the right way so he can’t really advance in magic.”

“Please let me dispel some of your doubts then. I shouldn’t say anything, but your son is not weak in Magic, quite the contrary. His strength is the only reason the bomb was detected and many lives saved. Had he been other than what he is, had he been even a tiny bit less him, then Thomson and Michelson would be at war. With Donalson, Dest and the Kallows fighting over the remains as then Third Heir Thomson, now Hearth Daughter Ericson, fought to salvage anything she could as it was all overrun.”

“That bad?”

“Yes, and worse. The bomb, had it done it’s job, would have killed both Land Mothers, both House Mothers, all their personal guards and everyone’s Heirs except Lisa who, as a spare, would not have been present. So your son is going to be, once he is identified that is. Targeted by someone with enough resources to plant a bomb at a multi Familydom gathering with multiple Familydom Land and House Mothers when said gathering was organized with only a moon’s warning. I can’t tell you why, but there is also supposition that it could have been intended to go off at some point in the future, perhaps when they came together for a peace conference. And it went of early because of the mess with Brenhar bringing everyone together unexpectedly.”

“In other words.” Jacob says with a deep breath, “You all are going to do the best you can, but once we are killed by whoever this is, you are going to follow them back and see who they report to. That is why the house is being cleaned.”

“We are going to do our best. We already have trusted people watching.” Nicole admits as she discovers that whatever her feelings for Charles, and they are a mess, these people have done nothing to deserve what was going to happen to them.

“You pray for success, you plan on failure.”

“I’m sorry.” Nicole replied hanging her head as real sorrow crept in. These people were already dead and they knew it. The only question at this point is whether their deaths would accomplish anything in the long run.

“It’s not your fault.” Sara said and suddenly Nicole understood why her ancestors had been reduced by the Legents. For this whole mess is in fact in part her fault. She had contributed heavily to the chain of events. She had helped shape things, put Charles and Lisa and Lucas where they could help save so many lives. Yet also she had doomed these people. They were going to die as a result of her and Brenhar’s attitudes toward those of lower birth. She, a descendant of the blood lords, sworn to preserve life at all costs, shared responsibility for these deaths. Then it finally hit her. It hadn’t happened yet, her victims still breathed, yet they were as dead now as if they didn’t breathe and she and they both knew it. At least when she had helped kill Sinda it had been a direct thing, not a neglectful one like what was going to kill these people.

“That will be Micah and Sien.” Nicole said in response to knock at the door. She knew because she could feel the seed magic in Sien whispering to the seed magic in her. “We have some cleaning to do.”

“Of course dear.” Sara replied.

“I’ll be in my workshop outback if you need me.” Jacob said, unwilling or unable to watch as his fifth born was erased from his house and life forever.

“What is the analysis so far King of Donalson?” He demanded looking at the pile of rubble from the building at the wharf.

“So far, nothing.” King Donalson admitted, “We have no idea what did it. We had pieces brought back by three different teams, brought back three different ways, and nothing. This is just rocks and tile and timber. There is nothing about it that blocks Magic at all.”

“Yet witnesses from farther away confirm the boy was pulling Sand Guard away before the wave hit?”

“Yes.”

“Clearly then that leaves two possibilities.”

“What are those?”

“Either your scientists are incompetent, or the boy is immune to humbling.”

“Impossible.” King Donalson hisses.

“The former or the latter.”

“Either. I had some of the same people who helped finish laying out, designing and building the bomb analyze the debris and they concluded it is just debris.”

“So you are saying the boy is immune?”

“Impossible.”

“And yet.”

“And yet.” King Donalson agrees, “I will have three of the scientists sent to test the ground themselves. We still have papers for Michelson and Thomson both.”

“You forget, that is no longer Michelson or Thomson land.”

“It’s open, no one is checking yet.”

“Do not ignore this Lisa of Hearth Hold Ericson or her to be mate Charles. Together they detected and deflected the bomb. No one is talking because no one knows how they did it. Yet they are the only wild cards present and he is the one who sent them to the tomb.”

“How were we supposed to know that a tomb in an active mine would have a full sand guard detachment in place. Or for that matter that they were no token force.”

“I am forced to admit it surprised me as well. On paper it looks like a retirement posting, not a single member of that unit has less than three full pitch battles, Magist and Techist fighting both. Yet not one of those there could be bribed. How he knew we were ready for the fall back position I do not currently know, but I will. I have agents working on identifying him.”

“Then you will just love this.” King Donalson says, loving sharing bad news. “I received word today that not only has the contingent of Sand Guard been left in place on what is now foreign soil. It has been matched by an identical posting of Tree Guard, also not a token posting, their backgrounds are the same. So now there are elite units, drawn from the same pool that guard the Mothers and their families. From two Familydoms who have been at the brink of war for generations, sharing guard duty on a place smaller than some families home ground.”

“Interesting.” The man observed.

“Interesting indeed.”

“What’s wrong Yen?” Muren asked as Yen was cleaning Charles’s dorm.

“I know, knew, him.” She replied pointing to Terl.

“And?”

“And she destroyed him. Like I said, I know him. I’ve Known Terl all my life and that is no longer Terl at all.”

“You’re imagining things.” Muren denied deflecting the conversation.

“No I’m not. He is your plaything like I am Charles’s. But there is more to it than that, I know how he moves, how he talks. He is coming to talk like you do, exactly like you do. Terl is no longer in there, he is just a Terl shaped thing now, his mind is gone.”

“That could have been your fate as well.”

“But he was a person.” Yen whined.

“So was Sinda.” Muren screamed in sudden rage, “She was a person and you, your kind, killed her without a second thought, you never even checked if Charles was alone.”

“I.” Yen started to answer turning away.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.” Muren ordered angrily.

“Yes ma’am.” Yen heard herself reply as her head twitched around to face Muren on it’s own, dragging her body around as well.

“Interesting.” Muren smiled watching, and even more interestingly, feeling it as Yen obeyed.

“What?” Yen asked feeling panic start in, She didn’t know why, but she suddenly knew she had to obey Muren for some reason.

“Go bend over on the bed and spread your legs.” Muren ordered as the same thought occurred.

“What? Why?” Yen demanded as she felt herself complying.

“Terl, go take her in the ass then stroke her until she orgasms.” Muren ordered, guessing it was Charles’ Seed Magic in her forcing Yen to obey. Not being bound or controlled by it was letting her speak through it she guessed.

“Yes mistress.” Terl replies rising.

“Muren please. I’m sorry.” Yen begs as Terl lifts her dress and her limbs stay still.

“Not much fun is it?” Muren asks Terl unceremoniously takes Yen anally, it hurts since he didn’t lubricate because he hadn’t been told to.

“Muren no, please, no more.” Yen begs as Terl reaches around to stroke her and she feels her body respond.

“Good boy Terl.” Muren says as Yen’s face flushes then her mouth hangs open in obvious forced near orgasm in response, despite the pain, “Now we keep this up until she learns her place. Not nearly as much fun on the receiving end is it?”

“Please, no.” Yen pleads as tears of fear and humiliation blend with orgasmic sweat.