First you speak with Laoda

Still pleasantly tender from your intimate encounter with Ceno, you slip on your armor and move over to his desk to use his mirror so you can retie your hair. Once you are satisfied with your appearance you turn back to Ceno who is still sleeping soundly on his cot. As hard as he came it is unlikely that he will wake up in time for his morning duties, let alone the start of the siege. Knowing him, if he had the chose between watching thousands of people dying under a hail of fire and rock or making love to you, it would be no contest. Aside from the fact that he would fight the very gods themselves to be with you, he really hated **** of any kind and is far more content with reading his books and scrolls than waging war - no matter how just.

In spite of your intention to leave as quickly as possible, you make your way over to where he lies and pull his furred covers over his nude body. You would love to join him under those covers and let your nude bodies grind against each other as you sleep; you might even have done so to, rules be damned, but you are needed on the front line. As you cover his toned body Ceno shifts slightly and moans softly, “Xira.”

You smiled contentedly as he moans your name in his sleep. To coax his dream along to something more pleasant you leaned down to his ear and whispered softly, “I love you, my King.”

Somewhere in his dreams Ceno smiles and lets out another soft moan, “I love you, my Queen.”

Stroking his blond curls, you lean down to his lips and give him a loving kiss before slowly parting your lips from his and making your way silently out of the tent, leaving him to his dreams of you.

As you step outside you find Laoda with the two guards guarding Ceno’s tent. She is standing between them, giving them seductive smiles and running her hands along their chests as she speaks.

“ - that you boys will keep what you heard to yourselves?” she asks with a soft purr in her voice, “It would upset me greatly if I started to hear details about the Queen’s affair with your young Prince.”

Laoda cups one of the strong men’s bearded chins and he responds with a lustful smile, “Don’t worry, Miss Laoda,” he smirks, “You secret is safe with us.” When the guards notice you stepping out of the tent, they gave you a knowing smile and bowed politely. “Your Majesty.”

Trying to hide the blush that you suspect is rapidly returning, you quickly move past them scooping Laoda’s arm in yours and dragging her away as she bids them farewell. Once out of ear shout you roughly turn Laoda to you and whisper in a hushed voice, “It’s bad enough that more people than I would like knowns about my ties to the Masson bloodline, the last thing I need is people finding out that Ceno and I have feelings for each other. If word of this ever got it I could lead to civil war, and I’m not well connected enough for one of those, let alone two.”

“I know,” said Laoda holding up her hands in defense, “But we at least need to make sure that the people within earshot are on our side. These men were actually very open to you and Ceno joining together, in fact, Deni and Accor have such a strong alliance I’m sure that the people of Deni would be more than willing to merge their nation with ours through marriage.”

“What about our sisters,” you snap, “Will they be willing to give up their strength just so I could be with Ceno?”

Laoda lets out a long sigh, “The Lycaon leadership probably not, their followers maybe with some convincing, but your sisters might surprise you. Xira, you forget that they were considering forgiving the lost ones not too long ago, no longer following the practice of banishing those who fall in love with their men. The only reason why they are against it now is because a bunch of men killed and enslaved their mothers and older sisters. If you can show them that not all men are like that, they might at least consider siding with you.”

Almost like the gods are trying to show you the folly of this strategy a scene is developing near the large open gate facing the United Armies camps. Threw the open gate you can see a small group of mercenaries tormenting a poor servant girl trying to carry laundry down to the river the men have surrounded the young woman are groping her as she tries to pull away. Despite her protest, the men would not leave her be. It wasn’t until an arrow from one of the Accorian towers zipped passed one of the mercenary’s ears and lands at another’s feet did the men brake off and run for cover. Afterward, the servant girl continued on her way towards the river with her basket while making sure to stay within arrow range of your towers. After watching this scene unfold you glance back up at Laoda.

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” Laoda shrugs her pretty shoulders daintily.

“What would you have me do?” you ask her, crossing your arms and trying to suppress the memory of how soft her skin felt.

“Queen Resia has requested that you send some Amazon warriors to help protect the Deni camp,” she replies, “Grant her this request. Send some of our Sisters into the camp and let them see what real men are like. Yes, they can be quite crude but they can also be very caring…when they want to be.”

“What about our divine strength,” you ask Laoda, “I can’t just ask our Sisters to just give up Ares' gift and once again be at the mercy of men who would prey on us like sheep.”

Laoda rolls her eyes and crosses her arms perhaps deliberately imitating your stance. “Again, you don’t need god-like strength, you are strong enough as it is. Secondly, it’s called a curse for a reason. Nations that are incapable of birthing both sons and daughters are doomed to a very slow and degrading ****. Finally, have you SEEN Resia! She doesn’t have the curse and yet she as strong as an ox. Hell, I was almost unable to join you and Ceno because of how sore I was after she manhandled me.”

You arched your brow when you heard this, “What? You said you were going to visit Resia on business.”

Laoda smirks and her tone is once again light and playful, “Oh, that depends on your definition of business, your Majesty.” As she answers, she presses her hands on her back and gives it a hard pop. “Now if you don’t mind my Queen, I suggest that we return to the camp, the sun has almost set and Atheas will be quite upset with us both if we are late.”