13. A New Diversion by Zachary

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Curtis made a noise of disgust when the brunette showed signs of regaining consciousness; he’d been hoping to finish up before she came to. The suave servant had taken great pains to make sure he left no bruises when he got her in the chokehold that left her out cold at his feet. His Lord hated the sight of bruises and had been known to punish servants in his unique way if his instructions weren’t carried out to the letter.

A small moan escaped her lips, ones Zachary had just finished applying a deep shade of red to that complimented her dark coloring. He was already setting the tiny pot of imported dye down when Curtis smacked him up the side of the his head. “Get something to put her back under!”

Zachary didn’t bother to answer, instead he turned and reached past the lavender-haired bully (what kind of bully has lavender hair??) and selected two small vials from a tray resting on the Kamerian blue marble countertop behind Curtis. After making sure he had the two he wanted, Zachary pulled the cork stopper from the first one. “Hand me that glass tube.”

Zach’s voice was quiet as always and it grated on Curtis’s ears, but everything about the soft-spoken valet did. The little punk never lost control, Curtis fumed silently. He was on edge, he knew- or at least suspected- why Lord Kelzen had ordered him to keep the brunette at any cost and he didn’t like it. No, it wasn’t that he was jealous, he told himself, he just didn’t like anyone taking his Lord’s attention away from himself. Curtis half-turned to scan the array of pots, jars, brushes and oil bottles, “What tube? Oh.” He spotted it among the clutter and picked up the slender cylinder then handed it to the shorter, dark-haired elf.

Holding his breath, Zachary carefully measured out how much of the drug he needed into one end of the thin tube then leaned down and with a practiced breath, blew the fine, grayish powder up the right nostril of the woman’s nose. It took him only a moment to do the same with the left side using the ochre-colored granules from the other vial; combining the two drugs would leave her unconscious until Lord Kelzen’s leisure.

The faint line between the woman’s dark brows relaxed then vanished completely when the pull of the intoxicating herbs lulled her back into oblivion. Zachary smiled faintly and Curtis scowled at him then snapped. “Hurry up and finish!”

Sun, Apr 6th – 7:08PM

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An hour later found the two servants of the third son of Duke Starsunder of the kingdom of Sareth inspecting the handiwork preformed on the woman in their Lord Kelzen’s luxurious bedchamber. Zachary reached forward to reposition one dark spiral of the woman’s hair, tweaking it so it fell over the curve of her left shoulder, drawing attention to the golden, dragonfly clasp holding the white gossamer material that fell to barely cover the bottom of her small breasts.

Zachary stepped closer to inspect the corner of the woman’s mouth. Yes, every trace of the scars were gone, gone from her lip, face and lower back. Healers had mended her broken arm magically the day before but it had been up to Curtis and him to remove all traces of any scars or imperfections from her body. It had been a bloody job with Curtis doing the dirty work. The image of Curtis striking a pose in front of the wide mirror in the private bath, covered in the woman’s blood loomed into his mind. With a frown he said while focusing on the flawless skin beside her mouth. “Perfect.”

Lady Quinn is what Lord Kelzen had called her; she’d introduced herself as Harly. Now she was a ‘special guest’ of their lord’s. Chains from the floor and ceiling linked to wide, golden cuffs encircling each wrist and ankle, stretching her to the point of complete immobilization, the iron spacer bar between her legs would further inhibit movement and leave her with a open, vulnerable feeling. Curtis walked behind the woman and thrust his head between her arms to peer down at Zachary from over the top of her scented head and grinned at him.

Curtis encircled her narrow waist, splaying his large hands over the soft skin before sliding one up under the filmy fabric to cop another feel while thrusting aggressively against the sheer material of the long, skirt that rode low on her hips. “Close enough. I’m sure Kelzen won’t mind that little thing on her hand.” Curtis’s grin widened when Zach halted his inspection and startled eyes flew upwards to the palm of the woman’s left hand.

They failed to remove the strange tattoo from her left palm, they’d tried but the damnable marking bled back into the newly healed flesh within a matter of moments. That worried Zachary almost as much as losing the Snodgrass connection in Ravnglade because of Curtis’s vulgarity. Old lady Snodgrass had thrown the two of them out, thankfully into the back lot where the crates with Lord Kelzen’s purchases where. If Curtis hadn’t been there, Zachary never would have survived the dog attack but then again, if Curtis hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have been subjected to the wrath of the guard dog.

Realizing that Curtis was needling him, Zachary said with a quiet authority he knew got under the lavender-haired barbarian’s skin (only a bully completely sure of himself would dare to dye his hair lavender). “Get off of her and inform M’lord that she’s awaiting his pleasure.”

Tues, Apr 8th – 2:56PM

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Kelzen swung the door to his chamber open and stepped in. Behind him the door clicked quietly shut but his attention was focused on the prize before him. Even from the backside, the elven lord could see that Zachary had done his magic and transformed the tatterdemalion into something worthy of his attention.

A golden belt low around her narrow hips held in place a long skirt, the white gossamer sheer enough to give Kelzen a tantalizing view of Harly’s slender legs, the soft rounding of her shapely derriere, clouded just enough to make him want to rip the delicate fabric away. For a minute he simply stood and let lust, hot and wild, blaze to life.

It wasn’t because Harly was beautiful that Kelzen kept her, no, without the proper attire, expensive lotions, oils and cosmetics, Harly was only a half-step above ordinary and that was after the scars were removed. The key to his attraction was whom she was important to and that alone made her a gem to be possessed. Hell, he’d have taken her if she’d been a half-orc, just to show he could. How dare that puffed-up rooster think he could dictate where Kelzen’s eyes wandered or didn’t? Well, he was going to do more than just look this time.

A sly smile crept over his features while he brought the words of the incantations to the tip of his tongue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Who Are You Really??~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mon, Apr 14th – 2:29AM