Excuse yourself, find Kara.

"Tonight has been stimulating, Madeleine, but my bed is calling me." You say, lying as convincingly as you are able.

"Of course, your condition must weary you so." Madeleine says sympathetically. "Will you be able to find your way back to your quarters?"

"I should, yes." You nod.

"Marvellous!" Madeleine responds. "As for me... well, my studies are calling, I think."

Bidding the princess farewell, for now, once again, you make to leave.

"Ellie, do we have any Jitterleaf powder left? I could use a little perking up, it's going to be a long night." you hear Madeleine as you exit the room. "And see if Benjy's done with that southerner, will you? I'm going to require his assistance with the reading..."

-

Between the Jitterleaf in your system, and Madeleine's massage, it's with a veritable spring in your step that you navigate the palace's winding corridors, until you find yourself outside Kara's quarters. Though smaller than you and your mother's apartments and presumably Donald's and Jana's, Kara has also been given accommodations in accordance with her right as visiting royalty. If there was one thing the Diacres were not in short supply of, it was opulent lodgings.

"Edward." Kara receives you warmly, ushering you inside her room. "Done with yer pals, then?"

"Madeleine's not my pal, Kara." You tell her, hobbling inside. "Sort out your dispute down in the camp?"

"Aye." Kara responds, holding up her right hand, showing you red welts of irritation around her knuckles. "Had to get a tad forceful, but I convinced a few hard-headed bastards to settle down. I don't enjoy it, but it has tae be done from time to time."

"Gods, I wish I'd been there. T-to see you in action." You say, moving closer to the princess. Seeing what she could do during the Contests had only intensified your attraction to her.

"Ye might have that opportunity before long." Kara muses. "Hell, come away to the border with me and Donald. You can watch me cleave through Morlandians of a day, lie wi' me and give me succour of a night."

"I-i never considered a career as a camp follower." you smile at the princess, eliciting a chuckle from her. "You sell it well, however. But... I can't. I have somewhere to be."

Kara raises an eyebrow.

"Where exactly? If you're no' serious about wedding Madeleine, yer presence here's a mere formality." Kara reasons. "So where is it, exactly?"

"It's somewhere else..." You begin, a little flustered. You can't very well tell a woman of noble birth and upstanding morals such as Kara that you're on your way to a rendezvous with your grandfather, a demonic king of yore, can you? "Listen, I can't say. It's sensitive."

"What do you mean, you cannae say? Ah hope it's not gonnae be like this when we're wed. A marriage cannae prosper when there's secrets between the participants." Kara advises you.

"It won't be." You reassure her. "When the time is right, I won't keep anything from you Kara."

Another lie, how could you possibly be honest with her about your heritage, let alone how... vociferously you had embraced it so far. Still, you would ford that particular river when Kara was your Queen.

"Quite the view." You note, gesturing to the window in an attempt to change the subject. Kara's lodgings were on the side of the palace that overlooked the city. Copieux was sprawled out beneath you, like a sea of stone and brick.

"Aye, if you like bein' able ta see every pauper in the city at once." Kara remarks. "Y'know, it's shocking the luxury these Diacres live in, when some of their subjects are so needy. Shocking."

"I don't know, you and Donald seem fine with their wealth when they're paying you to defend them." you say, unable to resist needling her.

"That is'nae the same. We need the gold so that when Dean attack us, we can repel them, keep our own people safe." The Beathan tells you, rolling her eyes.

"So righteous! So noble! I-I'm marrying a saint, aren't I?" you tease. Kara swats at your arm playfully.

"Don't call me that, aye?" she insists. "Just 'cause I have a concern for the smallfolk, does nae mean I'm some... paragon of virtue."

Be that as it may, Kara's beliefs were quite different from the ones Marissa had drilled into you growing up. The demoness had always instilled the importance of taking, as much as you were capable of, then trying for even more. That and control, be it physical, martial, sexual, over any weaker than you.

"And what of that gold you deprived me of, during the Contests?" You ask Kara, winding an arm around her hips and pulling her close. "Did your peasants enjoy it? I imagine it would buy much in the way of ale and amusement."

"It'll get them through the winter, if it's a harsh one. And in Beatha, they always are." Kara tells you. "It'll save lives, strengthen my people, and their love for me."

"Not that that needs much doing." You slur, leaning in to kiss the princess. "You're rather... lovable already, I find."

Kara reaches out for you in kind, pulling you into a tight embrace and kissing you. The two of you passionately partake of one another, just as hungrily as you had before, until the princess pulls away, only to turn and begin undressing.

As she makes for the high, isolated window, letting her gown hit the floor, you understand her invitation implicitly.

Taking out your hard prick, you position yourself behind Kara and line it up with her wet cunt, taking her up against the window.

"Spirits, that's good..." the naked royal moans as you fill her up. "Harder, Edward."

You're happy to comply with the Beathan's words of encouragement, picking up the pace. Between your view of Kara's naked form, and the capital city below, candle and lantern lights in the windows of homes and bistro, it's a rather majestic view.

Clutching her side, you piston into the warrior woman, with nearly as much zeal as you had when fully intoxicated. The redhead responds eagerly, in body and voice, gasping for you to continue, her breath fogging up the panes of glass before her.

You last a good twenty minutes, pleasuring Kara's petals, bringing her to climax twice before your sack convulses and you feel yourself shooting one more load into the Beathan. At this rate, one day it will be the wrong part of her cycle, and your inability to resist finishing inside her will bear fruit, potentially placing a ticking clock on your intention to wed her.

Coming away from the window, you and Kara fall into bed together. Sleep genuinely threatens to claim you this time, as Kara lies nestled against you.