As the three of us descend to the ground floor, it feels as though hours have passed since we entered this grand stairwell. Only the lighting from the lanterns lights the way down. There isn't a window in sight to let in the sunlight. 'Part of their defensive measures?' So far, I have not felt the least bit tired. The three of us haven't even broken out in a sweat.
As we reach the final landing on the ground floor, my suspicions are correct. The fact that none of us are out of breath surprises me. Hiking down so many flights of stairs takes a while, and we should have been sweating. My body does not seem affected after such a long descent.
Leonita leads us to another set of tall, metal, arched double doors. She releases my arms and pulls the metal doors open as Eulalia had done earlier. We enter another long, brightly lit hallway identical to the hallway outside my room.
"Jeez, a girl could get confused easily with all pathways looking identical!" I say as we pass under the hulking archway.
"Look, my Queen," Eulalia says, pointing at the wall to our left.
"There is a marker. This is the ground floor. A groundhog and a numerical number tell you where you are in the Castle," Eulalia explains further.
"Oh, I see. How does that help me? I do not know the layout or the symbols for the floors."
"Do not worry, my Queen. Your handmaidens or Knights will always be with you to guide the way until you become comfortable roaming the Castle alone. Although that would not be permitted, of course," Leonita explains as we walk.
"Right… Right… I'm the Queen… Blah blah blah… I can get around by myself once… you know I figure this place out. Don't sweat the details, I always say!" I reply in a cheerful voice.
"I'm serious, my Queen. The powers would never let you roam freely without an escort. But, of course, if they don't know… Nevertheless, I am sure our Queen will cause Lady Constance a headache now and then. Our Queen seems to be the type. Am I right, Eulalia?" Leonita says with a smile.
"Yes... Yes… I suppose you would be correct. You are always right about these things. I take your word on this matter!" Eulalia says in a somewhat cheerful voice.
"Hey… Hey, what do you mean the type?" I question.
Leonita stops and stands before Eulalia and me, "Just the type that does what she wants. The romantic type our mothers used to tell us about when we were young, right Eulalia?"
Eulalia nods her head in agreement, "Yes… Oh yes… I remember it as if it was yesterday. First, the daring Queen Fated defies her keepers and goes wherever she wishes whenever she pleases. Then she finds a handsome prince and falls head over heels for him," Eulalia says as she squeezes my arm.
"And… And… The handsome Prince and Fated Queen fall madly in love with each other!" Leonita says, leaning forward with her hands clasped together. Her breast, barely contained by her delicate garments, almost pops out of her dress.
"Then they travel the country to gather the people's favor from all of Sidra for the Queen's coronation. Oh, my… it's such a lovely story. And you, my Queen. You fit the story perfectly. We could not have hoped to have a better Queen to serve," Leonita says, smiling more and more. She puts her hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye.
A passion burns deeply in her eyes. This is the real Leonita and Eulalia. Not the shy handmaidens I first met earlier. In a matter of hours, they have let their guard down around me. 'Was this the effect I would have on those around me?' A similar impact was felt by princes named Bardos and Barrios. They both wanted to marry me after briefly meeting me.
'Would my sisters have the same effect on those around them?' I still have plenty of time before I have to be at this stupid dinner engagement. 'But how am I going to get through it? I know nothing about being a woman or a Queen. How do I even begin to interact with a Prince?'
I have never met a Prince in my life. This is all more than I can handle. 'Am I supposed to act like a queen after being a man my whole life?' The situation my sisters and I find ourselves in is ridiculous. 'To think, I have to think of my former brothers as sisters.'
Leonita's kiss on my forehead breaks me out of my thought trap.
"Cheer up, my Queen. I am sure whatever concerns you have will work themselves out accordingly. Whatever you need from us, just say it, and it's done," Leonita says as she hugs me.
"Yes, my Queen. We will do anything for you. You cannot imagine how pleased we are that you appeared for us to serve. We could not be happier!" Eulalia says as she hugs me as well.
With all the attention from them, I cannot resist groping each of their bottoms with my hands.
"Hey, you two are going to make me tear up and do something I shouldn't do right here in this hallway!" I say, taking in their scent.
"It is alright, my Queen. There will be time for that later tonight after your dinner. We will be waiting for you right where you expect us to be," Leonita says as she lowers her hand to my bottom.
"Did you expect this to be a part of your services?" I ask softly.
"We knew it could be possible. If I am honest, we hoped for it. We devoted our lives to you before you even appeared in our world. But, for you to be, you were far greater than what we could have hoped for," Leonita adds.
I feel another hand grace my bottom. My handmaiden's breasts press against mine in our three-way hug. I feel so warm inside. A pressure builds in my womb as it had earlier. The lighting in the hallway flickers as the pressure grows stronger and stronger. 'What is this intense feeling I feel?' It seems familiar as if I have become horny, but the sensation goes further than that. It feels like immense power.
A power I cannot describe. It flows from me to my handmaidens like a raging river. I lean away from them to look at them. Both of their vivid blue eyes glow a bright blue color. Their eyes burn as if consumed by fire. A tremendous burning blue fire swirling like the eye of a raging storm. My handmaidens' hair seems to dance in an unseen draft. The two of them have an expression I cannot decipher.
It sends an overwhelming sense of power within me. As that power pours into me, something equally powerful pours into them. 'Was this the power I sensed within me?' Again, I cannot say, but the feeling I get is akin to euphoria.
"My Queen!" a male voice calls from behind my handmaidens.
I look around them to see two castle soldiers kneeling before me. The two soldiers look at me with their eyes blazing with the colors of their eyes.
"Rise!" I say in an unfamiliar feminine voice.
The soldiers stand at attention. I wave my hand for them to come closer. They nod and walk up beside Eulalia and Leonita, who are hugging me.
"Take my hands!" I whisper.
I watch as each of them takes my hands. Leonita and Eulalia hug me tighter with both arms. The unseen current of air turns into a powerful gust. They moan slightly as the fire in their eyes intensifies.
The power in my womb increases tenfold, the sensation no longer something I could localize to any single part of my body — it had become everything, moving through every nerve ending simultaneously like a current that had found no resistance worth acknowledging. It no longer felt like something happening to me. It felt like something waking up inside me that had always been there, patient and enormous, waiting for exactly this convergence of bodies and contact and whatever unnamed chemistry existed between a Fated Queen and those bound to her. The energy pouring out of me was matched beat for beat by what flowed back in return — a perfect circuit, self-sustaining and accelerating, each pulse larger than the one before it.
I feel one of my handmaidens grip my bottom, fingers pressing with an urgency that had moved entirely beyond propriety and into something more honest. Then another set of hands graced my rear, and the layered sensation of being held from every direction at once sent the current higher. The two soldiers' hands released mine and moved to the breasts of my handmaidens, and the sounds that escaped Eulalia and Leonita fed directly into me like fuel. The flames burning in their eyes reached a blinding, consuming intensity — white-blue and total.
All I could feel was the euphoria before the darkness took me completely.