Herald of Steel

The rumors that Queen Parthia had heard about the capital of Adhania were certainly worth an ear if nothing but for the outrageousness of their contents.

There was of course some truth mixed in, such as the immensely luxurious party held almost every week in the palace and the full fledged orgies that regularly followed afterward.

The reports even contained some real descriptions of what happened in those debaucherous events, like rules regarding the couple swapping as well as the various 'inventive' games played there among the prurient nobles.

But such kernels of truth were rare gems hidden under a mountain of exaggerations.

This ranged from the weird, like saying that in the capital people could be seen frequently copulating openly out in the streets, to disgusting such as claiming the prevalence of bestiality among all the nobility, to even the macabre like the food there containing human meat and drinks produced from the freshly slaughtered blood of virgins.

Whatever Ophenia and Gelene could have said to frighten Queen Parthia, they certainly could have never topped that last one.

Thus, when the duo elucidated on nothing, and instead let the other side let her vivid imagination do the all heavy lifting,

And just like they had hoped, the Queen, haunted by her own fears broke.

"What is the second offer?" She spookily posed after a while.

And Ophenia instantly beamed!

The fish had taken the bait.

Now it was only a matter of reeling it in.

'I have to be careful. Or it might snap the line!' But before getting too carried away, Ophenia quickly warned herself to pace her words.

The fish was still very big and could free itself at any moment.

So she presented the offer in a nicely dressed package, "Queen Parthia, my master is Goddess Gaia's chosen. Favored by the gods. As his high priestess, I know of a ritual you can perform with him that might aid your husband to wake up."

"This is my second offer!"

Ophenia mentioned nothing about her true intentions, but instead played the card she knew was guaranteed to work- Queen Parthia's love for her husband and the duty she felt towards him.

"Ritual? What is it?" And just as Ophenia had predicted, Queen Parthia instantly bit on the hook harder, her eyes widening as her heart itched to know the specifics of the ritual.

Although she did not show it, Queen Parthia had long been torn with grief over Perseus's long slumber.

By now she had even nearly resigned herself to expecting the very worst.

So now that the other side said they had a way to help heal the love of her life, Queen Parthia felt she would be willing to do almost anything.

And it was precisely smelling this desperation that Ophenia produced some more crumbs.

"The ceremony involves making heartfelt prayers to the goddess through his son. The better you can serve him and the more he is satisfied, the greater will be the efficacy of the ritual. If you can serve him well enough, his mother, the Goddess will respond to any of your wishes." Ophenia smiled, before darkening her eyes,

"So are you willing?"

The deal she was presenting here was a very insidious one.

Because if Perseus really woke up, well then congratulations, it worked and everything was good and right in the world.

But if Perseus never woke up or died, well then you simply did not serve Her son well enough. Better luck next time.

It was a win- win.

"Serve!!!" And hearing that particular word Queen Parthia only let out this pitched cry, as her eyes lost all its shine, becoming instead dark and cold.

She very well understood the implication of that word.

'They want me to whore myself to that brat! Preposterous!'

'No wonder these skanks were skirting around the bush so much. They knew I would never accept.'

Queen Parthia finally woke up to the kind of 'ritual' these girls were talking about, and she felt disgusted.

It was a line too far for her even with all that was being promised.

"Yes. Serve him. My master has always … 'admired' you." While Ophenia, seeing that they were this far, saw no point in hiding it anymore, as she finally revealed the second offer,

"We wish you to lay with my master for three days and three nights and serve him to his utmost satisfaction."

"In turn, he will forget everything that happened in the last two days and even pray for your husband's well being! While we will properly care for your daughter."

"Absolutely not! What do you take me for! A couple of whores like you!"

It did not take Queen Parthia even a millisecond to produce this shrieking curse, almost like a knee jerk reaction, as the furious lady then instantly jumped up from her chair and shouted in a very sharp, high pitched tone,

"I should slap every teeth out of you both for spewing such bullshit!"

"Get out! We are done here. You can do whatever you want to us. I don't care." Queen Parthia threw all concerns to the wind as she furiously swung her hands in absolute fury.

To her loyalty and chastity to her husband were even more important than her or even perhaps her entire family's life.

She would not compromise on it no matter what.

And the fact the other thought they could make her incensed her.

If she was still the queen, she would have had both their entire family tree executed for this transgression.

Credit where credit is due, Queen Parthia was truly a loyal wife.

In response to this complete ripping of the agreement, Ophenia did not appear angry or try and urge or threaten the other side.

"*Nod*" She only produced a slight smile, and got up from her seat just as Queen Parthia wanted, before making herself towards the door.

But before she left with Gelene, she did leave with this piece, sweeting saying,

"I'm sure the contents of the offer have caught you off guard, Your Highness. Understandable." "There is no need to make your decision right now. Think it over for a few days. Perhaps you will come to a different conclusion once you have cooled down and the suddenness of it all has subsided."

Even with this furious rejection, Ophenia still believed Queen Parthia could be made to turn around.

And Gelene joined her too, adding,

"We indeed are able to help your husband, Queen Parthia. There is also no reason for you to doubt the veracity of that. My master has received divine knowledge from Goddess Gaia on curing all kinds of diseases. He is without equal in this mortal world."

"Just go to the palace infirmary and ask all the advanced medical techniques we have should you require further proof."

The pair then left Queen Parthia alone to her thoughts with these.

Exiting the room, Ophenia and Gelene walked across the long corridor silently, each reflecting on the contents of the conversation they just had.

"Well, that could have gone better!" Until finally Gelene opened with this sigh.

The pair had been quite confident in their plan to strong arm the lady into Alexander's bed.

But unfortunately, it seemed Queen Parthia was too stubborn.

"Don't worry, she will agree." However contrary to her counterpart, Ophenia still held hope and even sounded confident.

Her guts told her so.

"And if she doesn't? You know we can't actually do any of the things we told her." Gelene on the other hand was more afraid of not being able to follow up on the threat and thus appear weak on all subsequent meetings.

Alexander of course would not throw the princess, concubine or not, into those parties.

The man had even rejected her idea to teach the princess a lesson as he had done with Mikaya and the wall.

And there was no way they were going to risk doing it behind his back.

"She will. I know it." But Ophenia did not seem to even bother herself with the ifs.

Her gut told her the former queen would acquiesce.

And she was right!

Only two days after their conversation, the trio were back at the same place.

But now the atmosphere was vastly different.

Ophenia and Gelene gave off a radiant, victorious aura, while from Queen Parthia rose tendrils of defeat and resignation and perhaps even shame.

Even she could not believe she was about to do what she thought she was about to do- betraying her husband.

But since she had come this far, there was no way she could back out of it.

"I agree to the ritual." Thus sitting across the table, Queen Parthia opened the conversation as such, her voice low, shamed, and even a bit tired.

She almost felt like tearing up.

"Great! You will not regret this" While Ophenia's reaction was naturally the exact opposite- loud, jubilant, and cheerful.

She had won!

So she then began to quickly unveil the details, "Let us tell what you about the ritual. It's nothing too complicated"

"You will just have to come to my master's chambers one night.He will first oil and scent your body and then you will just have to follow what he commands you to do."

"That's it. Simple!"

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