Facing challenges

Over a week had passed and Gob had not heard from Leaf. He had heard of her. There had been a couple of challenges to her authority. One from the orcs and another from a minor true demon. The first had been an open challenge that had been performed in the arena of the city. The orc chief had rained down blows upon Leaf who stood there, the motion of her hair the only sign that anything was happening to her at all. For an hour the orc had frantically attacked her until fatigue finally caught up with him and he paused for the briefest moment. Leaf crushed his skull slowly with a single hand. The whole thing had been displayed across the lands.

At the end, she held up the corpse as easily as if she were holding a sheet of paper. “I made an example of you before,” she announced. “I cannot remember how many of you I killed. I will do that again unless you learn from this. Ask your grandfathers of the horror of that time and think twice before you even consider me weak. The honour of combat will not be granted to you as it was to him. I will give you a coward's ****. How many of you will have to not wake up one morning before you do as you are told? Do not mistake my generosity as weakness. One in ten of you died last time, pray I do not choose to eradicate your species. I am the Maou, remember it or die.” It was too early to tell but that little display seemed to have worked.

The second challenge was not so public. Gob only heard about it through the maids who bore witness to the horror of it. It was some ceremonial dinner. The great dining hall was filled with true demons of varying nobility. The noble in question was sitting far away from the Maou as he was of lowly status. What he said was unclear but the Maou’s voice rang out across the hall. “I see we have someone who doubts my power due to my change of skin. How disappointed your mother must be to have her gender so disrespected. Still, you have volunteered as tribute and I appreciate that. I am sure his view is shared among some, maybe even many of you. I welcome any of you to try and prevent what happens to him next if you think I'm so diminished but know this. What happens to him will only be worse for every dissenting voice I hear from this point forward. He will be dead by the end of dinner. Future deaths will not be so merciful.”

The dinner resumed and as the meal went on the true demon began to melt away. Chunks of flesh dropped from him as he was held in place at the table. His cries of agony were willfully ignored by the crowd, too fearful to acknowledge his pleading. The maids said that only as the last plate was cleared did he seem to relinquish his grip on life and all present acted as though nothing had happened but they said that those closest to him had not touched their food, many looked pale and had a tension that showed only in their eyes.

Gob had hoped that Leaf would call him to her. She must not have enjoyed what had happened and he wanted to know that she was alright. He didn’t think it appropriate to approach her himself. Not at this unstable time. Even so, he found himself outside her chamber door, with a tray of coffee. His hand hovered over the door but he couldn’t bring himself to knock. He dropped his hand and was about to turn away when the door opened. “I know you are there. You might as well come in,” came Leaf’s voice from the room.

Gob walked in and looked around. Leaf was sitting in her favourite chair, her chin resting on her fist her face stoic but tinged with despondency. “I thought you might want some coffee,” he said, knowing that if she had wanted it, she would have asked. Leaf just gestured to the side table and Gob put it down and poured a cup which he passed to her. She took it but did not look at him. “Are you alright? A lot has happened.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment then gave a mirthless laugh. “Yes, I suppose it has.” She went back to her pondering stare. Gob decided to be bold. He walked up to her and kneeled down. He took her hand, so small now in comparison to his and he held it. She looked at him, shocked. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“I’m holding your hand,” said Gob. “You look so lonely.”

She started at his hand in shock and then at him. Her mouth moved, unsure of what to say until her mouth tightened and her chin creased in a wave of emotion. She quietly began to sob and sniff. She nodded.

Gob didn’t say anything, he just waited for her to be ready to speak. “Pip came to see me,” she said with a cracked voice.

“That’s good,” said Gob with a smile.

“I asked her to stay with me. To be my companion. She said no.” Her tears were flowing now and her crying was getting the better of her. “She said she liked cleaning the bath and that she was making friends now. I’m happy for her,” she said as her sobs took over her ability to speak. “She said she’d visit.” She began to bawl and Gob stood a little so he could pull her into a hug. She clung to him and cried. “I thought being a woman would make it better. Would make me better but I’m still not happy.”

Gob picked her up out of the chair and carried her. She clung to him and buried her face in his shoulder. He walked around and soothed her like an infant. Eventually, she cried herself out and pulled her wet face off his shoulder and looked at him with a sloppy smile. “You can put me down now if you like,” she told him.

“What if I don’t want to put you down,” he told her.

“I could make you,” she told him.

“I don’t care. I don’t want to let you go yet.”

“Oh,” she said, taken aback. “It’s a little unbecoming.”

“Screw unbecoming,” said Gob. “I want a cuddle and I think you need one.”

That made Leaf titter. “Okay, but can you stop walking around and bouncing? I feel like a baby.”

It was Gob's turn to laugh. “I guess I can do that.” He sat himself in the Maou’s chair which was thankfully large enough to accommodate him. He put Leaf in his lap, put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her onto his chest. She felt tense at first but the tension began to leave her and she rested her head on his chest. They sat like that for a moment with Gob stroking her golden hair. Eventually, she wrapped her arm around him and pressed herself against him. “I feel so small like this. Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled by his chest. She looked up at him with a worried look on her face. “Gob, do you find me attractive?” Gob laughed and she punched him on the arm which almost hurt. “I’m opening my heart here you arsehole. Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said as he stroked the back of the pouting woman. “It just seems like the most ridiculous question. You are insanely beautiful, of course, I’m attracted to you.”

“Then why haven’t you tried anything?”

“I was trying to respect your boundaries. You are the Maou again, not a maid.”

“I’m still Leaf. I’m just not as weak anymore. I wondered if being stronger than you turned you off.”

“I spent most of my life as one of the weakest creatures in the palace and that never stopped me perving over the maids and they could all have killed me. It seems pretty normal to me.” He paused and looked at her. “Is that really what is bothering you?

“A bit,” she said and rested her head back on his chest. “I’m just lonely. I don’t want to be doing the things I’m doing. I guess I’m just struggling to be the Maou again. Being a maid was so much easier.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m glad you are back,” said Gob.

“You are?”

“Yes, Karus was getting ideas. I would rather see you in charge any day.”

Leaf sighed. “Yes and I’m afraid my new appearance hasn’t changed his attitude a great deal. I know he’s been behaving himself but I can sense his change in attitude towards me. He’d like to make me his ****, I can feel it. He comes nowhere close to my power. I suppose I could get rid of him but it causes so many problems. How many people do I need to kill Gob?”

“Kill for what?”

“To just be left alone.”

“All of them,” said Gob.

“The whole world?”

“Probably.”

Leaf sighed. “That sounds about right.”

“You aren’t going to do that though,” stated Gob.

“No, I’m not.” She looked up at him. “Will you have sex with me?”

“Sure,” said Gob, a little surprised. “I couldn’t sense it.”

“I’m hiding it from you. It makes me a little shy to think you’d know how much I want you.”

“Apart from openly confessing it,” laughed Gob.

“That’s different.”

“Let it go. Let me sense your desire,” said Gob looking down into her eyes.

She looked up at him shyly. “Okay.” She closed her eyes for a moment and Gob was hit by a wave of confused desires. He could see pathways upon pathways of things that she wanted but she was not sure of what she wanted the most. One thing was clear, she wanted him.

He bent his head down and kissed her. He felt her body release some tension as she prepared her arms around his neck and began to kiss him back. Gob felt wellness on his cheek and pulled back to see her crying again. “Sorry,” she said, wiping them away. “These are happy tears, I promise.” She pulled him to her and they kissed again as she pressed her face to his with a **** need. “I missed this,” she said as she kissed his face. “Carry me to the bed?” It was a request, not an order, as Gob stood up with her and placed her on the bed. She looked down at herself still dressed in her formal day clothes, “Hang on,” she said and her clothes melted away and a sheer white babydoll nightie took their place. “Better?” she asked with a cheeky smile.

“I liked it before but yes, this is better,” he said with a grin.

“I want to be selfish today, is that alright? I just want you to take me.”

He was charmed by the fact that she asked. The Maou didn’t ask but Leaf did. “I think you need a little selfishness tonight,” he said as he started to undress.

“I’m a little taken aback by how attractive I find you these days,” she said as she drank in his body as he took his shirt off. “Men seem a lot more appealing to me than they did before. At least when they aren’t trying to manipulate me. Oh Gob, I never realised I would have to put up with some of the lords trying to woo me. They are so insufferable but I do find it a little funny. Are men so happy to dismiss my former appearance?”

“We are pretty simple creatures. A beautiful woman can make us forget a lot of things. Add in the political status and power it would give them and I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Gob as he pulled off his trousers and climbed onto the bed.

“Some of them are handsome enough but they don’t have the same impact on me that you do,” said Leaf as she hungrily eyed Gob’s impressive cock.

“That’s good to know,” said Gob as he reached up and grabbed the delicate white panties she was wearing and began to pull them off her long, shapely legs. He looked at her and saw a worried look on her face. “What’s the matter?”

“I hope it feels as good in this body as it did in my maid one,” she said.

Gob lowered himself over her and positioned himself between her legs. “Can’t you just make yourself more sensitive?”

“That feels like cheating.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to try extra hard,” he said as he rubbed the head of his dick against her slit. Leaf made a little noise of surprise as she jumped a little. “You seem pretty sensitive.”

“Uh-huh.”

He knew that she wanted him inside her. No foreplay, she was too keen to get back to being filled with him so he pressed his hips forward and slid his cock inside her. Her back arched as she orgasmed. It wasn’t just his penetration that caused it. He could feel it too. Waves of energy were flowing through her and into him. “I can feel it. I can feel my power making you stronger, I can’t stop it. I have no control over it. Oh, Gob, it feels wonderful. Fuck me,” she urged.

He had to agree. He had never felt so energised and alive as he did at that moment. It was akin to a low-level orgasm that ran through his whole body. His body felt electric as he began to thrust into Leaf. She smiled up at him and ran her hands over his masculine body. Both of them were breathing deeply as the combined pleasure of the power transfer and the sexual pleasure ran through their systems. Gob pressed his mouth to hers and they kissed. Their hands explored each other's bodies as they writhed. Both of them were in a daze. Gob thrusting at a steady pace, delighting in the feel of her pussy as she delighted in the feeling of being penetrated by his huge cock, her body accommodating what she should be struggling to fit.

Gob felt her orgasm again. “Does it feel as good as before?” he asked her.

“Better, I can’t control this flow of power. Even at my full strength, I can’t stop it. You have a power over me. It’s bliss,” she groaned. “I want you to cum inside me.”

“Are you sure? I might get you pregnant.”

Leaf smiled at him and stroked his face. “It’s sweet that you even think that is possible. I am still the Maou. I do wonder how much energy would flow into you if I let that happen.”

He could sense that she didn’t truly intend to let that happen but she enjoyed the fantasy. “Fine, let’s roll the dice and see what happens.”

“Yes,” she cried out as he leaned into her fantasy. “Fill me up with your potent cum. Maybe I’m weaker than I think to goblin cum. Try and knock me up, Gob.”

He let go of his control and gave a few more vigorous thrusts before he pulled her hard onto him and began filling her womb with cum. Leaf came hard at the mix of sensations, the surge of power leaving her body, the penetration itself and the strong effect of his goblin cum on her body.

He made to pull out but she said, “Stay inside me for a bit longer. It feels comforting.” He supported himself just enough not to crush her and relaxed. He could feel her pulse against his cock and there was a slower trickle of energy passing into him. She looked up at him and tenderly stroked his face and head. “Will you stay with me tonight?” Again, it wasn’t a demand.

“Of course,” he said and he dipped his head down to kiss her.

After a moment she said, “You can take it out now.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go again?” he offered.

“No, not tonight. That was perfect. I want to remember my first time just like that.”

“First time?” he asked as he pulled out and lay beside her.

“Well, first time with a man as the Maou. I think that counts. It feels special to me.”

Gob put his arm out and she curled up against him. “Then let’s call it your first time.”

“Mmm,” hummed Leaf. “Do you mind if I go to sleep?”

“No, but… Do you mind if I ask, why do you sleep? I just don’t feel the need anymore.”

“I don’t have to but I enjoy it. My father used to sleep a lot. He said that between the dreams he would know what **** was like. He said he took peace in that. I think I understand it. It also makes me think of him.”

“Was he a good father?” Gob asked.

“In a way, no but in others, yes. He was extremely old. His desire to live had long left him. He was not as sharp as he had once been. He only truly stayed alive to make sure that I was ready. I think that he died too soon in that regard. I think, in his madness, I sometimes saw hints of who I am. He could be capable of great tenderness. He also was the one that established peace after seeing the folly of conquering the world. Out of everything he taught me, it was his desire for peace that inspired me the most. I miss him sometimes.”

“He sounds like a great man,” said Gob.

“Hmm,” said Leaf and Gob listened to her breathing soften as she drifted off to sleep.