ALL NOVEL Book 3: 46. Vacation
Aloe carried her heart in her fist. Not literally, but certainly not outright metaphorically. Her hands trembled and it wasn't from physical exertion. She pushed her wheelchair alone, Lulu wasn't there to help her as her other duties called for the maid. That was exactly the reason why she was alone in the corridors because Lulu wasn't present to see her. Her destination was one she didn't desire the maid to bear witness.
The scribe's pace was slow, yet the dread grew with haste. She had done already this, and it had already been hard when she was healthy. Doing it again in her current fickle state was… not optimal.
Soon enough, Aloe reached her destination. A big set of doors stood before her. She didn't allow the size to intimidate her – even if she was more than justified to fear colossal doors – but what awaited behind certainly filled her with dread.
One breath, then another. A series of deep breaths wasn't enough to calm her, but she wasn't going to enter unprepared. She donned the glamour internal infusion. She had been shifting her flow of vitality for a while and even then, it took her a few more minutes standing in front of the door before completing the transition.
Using the charm stance was less than recommended as it was one of the visible stances, but she doubted it would be even detectable to her. Stances were multipliers of physical attributes, and as the name implied, that stance boosted natural charm. Aloe, from her education as a would-be-banker, was well aware that no matter how big a base number was, multiplying by zero always lent the same result. There was no beauty to be boosted in her.
But beauty wasn't what she needed nor sought. No, her objective was the byproduct of the stance. Glamour allowed her to control her reactions – and partially emotions – better than she would otherwise be capable of.
As the hot, primal lust of the stance filled her veins, Aloe dared to knock on the door.
The room was eerily silent, even if she knew the inhabitant of the place was inside. I think I've grown too used to acuity, I feel blind without it. As of late, she had grown to identify everything around her. By cadence alone, she was able to discern the status of people walking in front of her office. Whilst the door was closed. Servants walked with light feet and haste, whilst important people were slower and more sure-footed. Then there was Naila Asina. She was a heavendamned army on her own. That woman could be heard coming without any mystical help.
Her ears were muted as she donned another stance that wasn't sense, but she swore she heard the rustle of fabrics behind the door. Aloe maintained her face straight, partially supporting herself in charm, as she knew what the sounds may imply at this hour.
"Who goes there?" Rani's charming voice boomed through the door.
She was the reason the scribe was here, in the emir's very quarters.
"It is I, Aloe, Rani." The scribe spoke casually yet formally. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I would like to discuss something with you, and also enter your bedchamber if possible." She preferred having no ears listening to her words, that was why she hadn't addressed her in the throne room during this morn's audience.
"Hmm~" The princess' humming was lethally captivating even through the door. "Sure, make your way inside."
Aloe ignored the fact that the emir had asked her to open the door in her rather immobile state as the woman herself most often ignored the scribe was even in such a state.
With some difficulty, Aloe opened the door to the emir's bedchamber and was instantly struck with the sheer luxury oozing through every surface of the place. But her eyes quickly darted to where the owner of the room rested… and who she rested with.
"Ah…" A half-dead and silent wail left Aloe's mouth, fainter than a whisper. Considering she herself had barely heard it, she doubted Rani had. Nonetheless, her visage betrayed none of her emotions.
Betrayed being the utmost perfect word for the situation.
The reason that elicited such a reaction was none other than the fair-skinned companion of the sultanzade.
Aloe boasted no reaction at the sight. If Rani made her enter the room whilst such activity was unfolding, it was exactly because she wanted to get a reaction out of her. Her feelings had no place currently, only winning the non-spoken battle between them.
The scribe moved her wheelchair forward, eliciting no fear, to get at a closer range to her emir. She wants me embarrassed and cowling, trying to escape at the first opportunity. Aloe's thoughts were laced with venom. She'll get NONE of that. The petite woman stopped right in front of the bed where the two other women lay. The emir was amused, her lower body prone and her chest uncovered by any fabrics. The maid, on the other hand, blushed furiously and obscured her body with the blankets. The panic in her visage was real and her teary eyes begged to run away.
"Rani," Aloe announced the word slowly, unpreoccupied by the naked and sweaty women before her. "I would like to discuss about my free days. Namely, cashing them out."
"I see~" The emir's voice was melodious, and her amethyst eyes oozed with charm. Aloe didn't require of acuity to see how the princess' hand slithered across the bed and caressed somewhere on Lulu's lower body. Perhaps the exact spot was unbeknownst to the scribe, but the maid's muted yelp didn't leave much for the imagination. "If you have come to me directly, I presume it is because you want to cash them in bulk. Am I wrong?"
She's doing this to pester you. Aloe told herself. She's doing this to Lulu only to get a reaction out of you. The scribe could see the maid's visage redden in real-time, the movements below the blankets were silent yet strikingly loud. That only makes it more infuriating. No matter how much of a blush the sultanzade got out of the fair-skinned commoner, the scribe of commoners didn't allow a hint of red in her visage, glamour working overtime to hide her real emotions.
"You are correct in your assumption, yes." Aloe diplomatically smiled at Rani. "I know these are trying times, but I need a handful of days free of my duties as I would like to visit my greenhouse for…"
"The one in the desert?" The emir hastily interjected, and the scribe nodded subsequently. "Nonsense. Denied. I cannot have you going to the desert with your current health."
"That was exactly why I would like to use up all my free days, Rani." Aloe's tone remained composed even after the sudden negation. "I have a dweller, and with enough rest and stops, I am sure I will be able to reach my greenhouse without putting my health at any risk."
The emir's visage soured and the maid's reddened more. Ah, the pleasure I would feel with my hands around your neck, slowly tightening in a lovely embrace… until I snuffed the life out of you. It was only a heartbeat later that the scribe realized she didn't know what of the women she was thinking of. No, NO. Aloe gritted her teeth. It's not Lulu's fault, she probably doesn't want to be here. It's Rani who forced her here. Lulu's literally being sucked dry as if she is a sugar plantation. Aloe hated herself for blaming Lulu, even if it had been only in a lapse. That had been two lapsus too much.
Whatever was going through the sultanzade's mind, it was her companion that was paying for it. The maid wasn't participating from her own volition in the imperials' twisted process of power accretion. Aloe condemned the woman in her mind, the one who boasted glinting gemstones for eyes.
"Would it not be better to wait until you are in a better state of the body before attempting such a trek? Especially when, from your words, I intuit you intend to perform it alone." The fact that Rani was so… sweet – for lack of a better word – with her choice of words gave Aloe much-needed confidence. Whatever the sultanzade planned, she wouldn't like to see her harmed, though the scribe couldn't decide if that was positive or not for her.
"I, indeed, intend to travel alone and light." The scribe confessed. "Though I am highly acquainted with the path and my dweller is one of the smoothest rides I have had." When she's not boosted with speed and I'm donning toughness myself. And also wearing gloves. And a saddle. Aloe didn't believe one word she had spoken, but Rani didn't know that.
"The desert can be dangerous at night." The princess slumped her upper body on the soft-looking bed, her torso still uncovered. Her curves – highlighted by the backlit sunrays and the soft silhouette of the blanket – were a terrific thing.
Aloe knew what she was doing, how her body exuded pure sensuality and lust, and even with that knowledge in hand, she had a hard time resisting it. Even through her own charm stance, the scribe felt her face heat up, though she did her best to not show any color. Her lower body, however, still protested with sporadic tingling. The charged and humid smell of the room certainly didn't help. The maid behind the princess had totally vanished from her mind, overshadowed by a second sun of purple light.
"No creatures of the night dare to attack a dweller, and there are multiple outcrops to avoid the dangers prowling underneath the sand." If somehow she weren't badly hurt, the entities hiding in the darkness of the desert still posed many threats.
"You will not accept an escort?"
Aloe frowned at the question. "I take that you accept my vacation?"
"By law – one beyond my ability to rectify – I am forced to accept such petitions if they are merited." Rani raised her head from the bed and supported it with her palm. "As much as you have skipped your work in previous months, sick leaves do not demerit from previous contributions, and it is true that you have been at work for nearly a month in your ailing state."
"Thank you for your comprehension." The scribe of commoners bowed at her liege. The gesture was genuine as she hadn't expected her petition to go this smoothly.
"Your reaction is without need." The emir shifted her posture and stood on her knees. As she sat on the bed, the gesture had none of the weak connotations such posture may normally have, but unadulterated eroticism instead. "I am a governor, not a monster."
The sexiness of the posture was only exacerbated as she pushed her hair backward in a single swoop; the blanket followed suit, revealing any skin left to unveil. There she laid Rani, completely discovered to the elements, her femininity and bosom for Aloe to peer. That had not been the first time she had gazed at any of those given elements, but it certainly had been the most breathtaking one. The scribe was caught between a rock and a hard place as removing her eyes from her liege would have been considered an offense. Though at the same time… she doubted her capabilities to unlatch from the sight.
No matter how much the complexion of the face, the tinge of the skin, the darkness of the hair, and the glint of the eyes remained Aloe to depravity incarnate, to the most hideous being in of Ydaz – if not Khaffat – she couldn't help herself but lose a heartbeat in the gorgeous mess that was Rani-al-Sadina.
Pure beauty.
The scribe's hand trembled, her extremities not being as influenced by her own glamour as her visage, and she almost forgot to continue pouring her vitality on the dates she was hiding. Bad, bad. She realized. What would have happened if I regenerated too much vitality? Her charm is too strong… What… what if I had done something else? She couldn't tell if her hands were trembling – whether in fear or lust – or if they were reaching for something.
"M-may I inquire of how many days I dispose of?" Her hands trembled. Her voice trembled. Her thoughts trembled. Her whole being shuddered. And, nonetheless, Aloe pushed forward, acting as sternly as her afflicted body allowed her to.
"I would have conceded you nine days considering your previous apportionment and lack of any other real holidays, but even with Ruhena's inclusion, we are still pressed with manpower as we are still dealing with many affairs. The transition of power between my brother and I has not fully completed, then there is also the aftermath of the plague, and recently, Loyata's unusual trade tactics." If she was trying to get pity out of Aloe, she utterly failed, for the scribe of commoners had barely any love for the city and its government at all. The emir realized such tactics didn't work and politely squinted her eyes. "Alas, we cannot afford such luxuries in these trying times. Do six days sound good to you, Aloe?"
"I am more than grateful for your offer, Rani." The commoner bowed in her wheelchair, the princess' prolonged monologue allowed her to recover some composure. She was smart enough to not respond with humility as that would have likely ended in her having a reduced leave. "I will start my day off overmorrow if that is fine by you."
"Of course," Rani smiled at her. Her sunlit amethyst eyes, alongside her glistening bare chest product of the sweat, drew a powerful picture in the scribe's mind.
Aloe bided her farewells, leaving the room shortly after, for she feared she may lose herself in the enticing and welcoming body of Rani as much as the only person she had trusted in the palace had done.
There had been many references of Rani doing such activities, but this is the first one we have gotten in action.
Sultanzade will be sultanzade.
Thanks to my patrons on 
You can read three weeks of chapters in advance there!