The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Coquette Blacquin]

The color drains out of Coquette's face. "N-no!" she gasps. "Varisia, he raped my Jasper! My beloved horse, raped by yours in a twisted mockery of our first-- I had him gelded to stop him doing it again, I didn't want any creature I cared about to be subjected to that! And I didn't fuck Bull, I swear to you -- I hired him to be my handmaid and asked him to drop by and rub ointment onto my ass after the way you caned me." 

[Varisia Primfana]

"Why wouldn't you ask me?" Varisia demands, hurt by Coquette's rejection of her. 

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Because you just got done caning me! I was afraid of you!"

[Varisia Primfana]

Varisia's mouth drops open and she steps back. "Afr- Not-- Actually afraid? Like--" She breaks off, eyes filling. "Coquette... I never wanted... "

[Coquette Blacquin]

Coquette drops her gaze. "I am... often afraid of you," she says quietly. "I try to hide it. I know you mean well. But..."

[Varisia Primfana]

"But-- why? You know how much you mean to me, how important you being my wife is to me," she demands, tears dripping down her face. "Your life is precious to me, I would kill and die to preserve it. I would certainly never take it. Or even truly harm you!"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I had nightmares for weeks after... after you delivered that blanket." The one made of Jasper's skin, the one snuck onto her bed in the middle of the night after she was caught wearing a blanket around herself in the evenings in the house. "About poor Jasper, about what else you could be doing in my locked chambers at night, about what you might do to Bull if I displeased you again..."

[Varisia Primfana]

Varisia blushes. "I-- That was... petty of me," she allows. "I didn't..." She takes a breath. "No, I should first-- that wasn't Jasper's hide. I sold her the very next day, to a caravan. Ah, a nagiji caravan, I don't recall... I can probably find out, if you... But I didn't think that you would be so... Coquette, she's just a horse. I understand you liked her, but she was not a person. I am ruthless, oh my yes, but I am not cruel. I would not skin a person." Not over something like this at least. If someone hurt you, yes, but not to you. "I just wanted to remind you of what you did." She winces. "What I thought you did, I suppose."

[Coquette Blacquin]

Not his hide? You think I wouldn't recognize my own horse's spots, the little heart shaped one on his left flank, the one just the size of my hand on his neck? No, it was his hide. But she pushes the thought away, locking it up in the secret place inside her, deciding at once to accept Varisia's interpretation. Jasper is alive, somewhere, sold, not dead and buried in my garden.

"The way you talk about Bull, you don't talk like he's a person, either," she says quietly. "Sometimes I wonder if you really see me as a person, or just... an exotic pet. But that's... silly, I suppose. You've never given me true cause to think that way. I just... with everything that's been going on... and forcing me to get pregnant before I was even ready for sex with them, and with Jasper, and threatening to kill Bull, and... and with you gone all the time, I guess you didn't realize how much I loved Jasper. We used to go out for hours, just me and him. I was so lonely, even a horse would do. And then you came home and Regal raped him and you had him killed and... I thought you must want me to be lonely. I thought you were doing all this because I didn't deserve to have a friend like Bull to take care of me when you're gone."

[Varisia Primfana]

"Oh Coquette," Varisia whispers, looking pained, and not just because her grimace at Coquette's words caused the gash on her cheek to begin to seep again. "I--" She cuts off, looking conflicted for a second before her face smooths out. "I'm not angry with you. I'm not upset with you-- about the babe. Or even about Regal or your Bull, not anymore. I... I am upset about-- about what you did, today. But I accept that it's just as much my fault, for not explaining things well enough. For assuming you would understand why I've done what I have." She reaches up to cup Coquette's face and sighs softly. "Come, I'll draw us a warm bath, get us both cleaned up. Then we can cuddle in bed and talk, alright?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

She nods, wiping away more tears. "Please don't make me get pregnant again," she whispers. "I can't stand it, not right now. I need time. That's why I... I know you want a child, and I thought for sure you'd--" 

[Varisia Primfana]

Varisia doesn't answer right away, instead pulling her along down the hallway to her room. Bull starts to follow but stops at Varisia's murderous glare (instead, he waits a minute, then follows after them to wait the entire night just outside the door). "I do want a daughter, I absolutely do. More than anything really," she admits. "But we're merikos drow, we have decades yet." She stops walking briefly to kiss Coquette, lightly but lingering a little while. "I'm sorry I was so impatient. And that it cost--" She swallows, shuddering. "I'm s-ss-sorry."

[Coquette Blacquin]

Coquette nods. "I promise you," she whispers. "We will have our daughter someday. But now I just... I can't. I need to grieve. Can we... can we lay down and just hold me for a little while?"

[Varisia Primfana]

Varisia bites her lip as she looks at the bed, then the door to the bath. "Strip down and sit for a moment while I draw a bath. We need to get get cleaned up and you need to be warmed up. You--" She has to swallow, pain cracking her voice. "After what happened, you'll be fragile. I don't want you catching ill. We can cuddle in the tub, together. Okay?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Okay," she whispers, nodding. "Okay."


And for the rest of the day, that's what they do. They curl up together in the bath, sobbing and holding each other, and then repeat this into the bed. Days go by in a delerium of pain and sadness and grief, Coquette clinging to Varisia like an anchor. The prohibition against wearing clothes in the house is rescinded, though Varisia still prefers nudity for herself, and Coquette agrees to start having specified naked times where she has dinner or some other non-sexual activity while naked.

Coquette agrees to just about everything Varisia asks, in the next week or so. She also apologizes profusely to Nox and Lux, and the three start going on dates, trying to court her -- and winning pieces of her heart. 

There's retribution for what Varisia did to get back to her, in the form of assassins a few nights later that Varisia has to dispatch to protect Coquette. Coquette apologizes again and again for pulling her away from her business, as their relationship warms considerably over the next few months. Even Bull and Varisia seem to be getting along better, for some reason Coquette doesn't pry too far into. 

A little gravestone is erected in the garden, and on Mileen's day, Nox, Lux, and Coquette hold a little ceremony to remember their deceased daughter by. It helps. Over time, the wounds begin to heal, their hearts beginning to mend. It's not perfect, but it's enough.