Countess of Desire (The Young Ancients Erotic Moments Book 1) by P.S. Power Page B

bad either. Some female fighters ended up looking
like men. Hard and calloused. Somehow Petra had managed to avoid that. She was
larger than even the average noble woman, but her face was pretty, and she
actually had hips and a nice behind.
    She also didn't
bat an eyelash at being sat directly next to a merchant, even if she was a
Princess now. True, of Harmony, but that still counted. What caused a minor
stir was when Martya was waved to sit on her other side. Not that Pet minded,
but everyone else stared for a bit. There were about seventy or eighty people
at the meal, and no one from the city had ever been invited to sit up at the
top with them like that. Just at the tables set out on the grass, among the
palm trees. What was left of them. The storms had hit hard, but they still had
a lawn.
    After a
fashion.
    The grass was a
bit worn and spotty, and brown in a few places, since there had been less rain
of late. Hopefully that trend would end. If not, they'd need to see about
getting a floating river. Only one person made those however, and Maria
honestly doubted that she could fuck him hard enough to get Tor to part
with one. That left only humbling herself, for her people. She'd do it, of
course, but it would be nicer if she could just be friends with the man.
    The last time
she'd tried that with him, she’d wanted to surprise him, so had used her mouth
on him as he slept. He'd responded very well, until he realized it was her doing it. Then he... Well, he acted like she'd been raping him.
    It was, she
knew, the simple truth. She simply hadn't realized that he might not have
wanted her to do that kind of thing. They'd more or less made up by then, and
he enjoyed women, so it had seemed fair enough. A bit risky, but the worst that should have happened was that he might clear his throat and asked her to
stop. Instead he'd gone into an instant combat rage, and ordered her and Ducharina
Morgan from his room as if they were the lowest of scoundrels.
    Since then
she'd tried to be on her best behavior with him. It was less than optimal for
her, now though, wasn't it? She couldn't exactly just get in touch with him and
suggest a few magical rivers would be a nice present. As it was, she'd never
really been certain how they'd avoided having war declared on them by County
Lairdgren.
    Possibly just by
Tor, alone.
    It sounded
insane, but his little sister, using a few borrowed magics, had taken on an
entire County. She'd defeated every military force and left them crippled,
without ever shedding a drop of blood. If Tor couldn't do the same, then Maria
would be greatly shocked. That had been years before, too. Now he was probably
even more powerful.
    The situation
at the table was a bit different though, she knew. Not traditional or in good
social keeping in the slightest. Of late they'd had few visitors, and those were mainly people from the rebellion. Not all of them followers that way, in
truth, since it was clear that a few were just related to those that
hated King Richard and couldn't afford to go against a Baron or Countess, but
she wasn't able to really get too close to most of them yet. Soon, perhaps?
    Though most of
them would probably distrust her and Marvin for the rest of their lives, so she
didn't want to bet on it. People held no great love for traitors, and while a
spy might be forgiven, in time, it was harder to do when they held as
much power as a Count.
    It was another
reason for her to please as many as she could then, before their part in things
was known. If she lost over half her friends, a few might still remain hers,
simply because they loved her well enough to know she had no real choice.
    Really though,
that wasn't the issue of the moment. It was that Martya used to be a local
whore that got the tongues to wag. That didn't last as long as she thought it
might, the scandal being less of a problem to most of the people there than it
would have been elsewhere. They knew the Ward's to be good rulers, and if