The Princess of Mirth, Ch. 2

There was an entire floor of the Inner Palace dedicated to bathing and leisure; an expansive central swimming pool connected to several pools in other rooms through beautifully fashioned tiled waterways and artificial rivers with their own currents. Saunas and hot tubs dotted the misty interior and showers of various sizes were arranged along several walls.
Several unique water features could be found in this luxury floor such as the slime bathing pool, an immense tub filled with living docile slimes that would gently massage whoever went in for a dip, or the living oasis where enslaved dryads and nymphs were arranged around a dipping pool and mud bath to provide therapeutic massages.
However it was the whirlpool bath was Princess Laureline’s favourite chamber; a large circular pool a couple dozen meters across. The outer edges were shallow so that a person could rest on the tiled floor and be partially submerged, or push themselves further inwards into the deeper water where the pool swirled towards the centre. A team of water witches, concealed on the other side of the tiled walls and floors, worked to ensure a constant smooth current.
After her breakfast she had chosen to take her morning bath here in this chamber, letting the current take control over her as she stared into the tiled ceiling.
The baths were often a location where Princess Laureline would spend time with her various girlfriends and playmates when growing up. She sighed at the memory of playing in the bubble baths or racing down the water slides. She had never really grown up beyond those days but now time was catching up with her.
Remembering that Aurora would be sending her a message for when they were to eat once she was done with her breakfast and bath, Laureline regretfully swam towards the edge of the pool and emerged.
A blindfolded servant appeared by her side, not permitted to look upon her radiant naked body. She offered the princess a towel, and Laureline felt a twitch of sadism take her. She took the towel and quickly shoved the servant hard in the chest. Unable to react in time the blind servant tipped and splashed clumsily into the pool.
Laureline snorted at the simple pleasure this prank caused and skipped away, rubbing herself dry with a smile on her face.
A few minutes later and she was mostly dry and dressed in a fluffy gown and slippers. No other servants appeared before her, keeping themselves out of sight. Once she was gone they would no doubt appear to clean the floors and pick up her early morning silk robe which she casually dropped on the floor of the bathhouse.
Laureline did not care. Let them hide from her. She wasn’t in any mood to deal with servants today.
She headed directly for her chambers on the upper floors, arriving at the central staircase of the Inner Palace.
The automatic spiral staircase was a magical contraption that exemplified the privilege she had as a noble; for a slave, servant or ordinary citizen stepping onto the staircase they would be forced to climb it as with any other set of stairs, but the moment Laureline stepped onto it the entire structure began to spin and corkscrew its way upwards, carrying her swiftly to the next floor and beyond.

She smiled with childish glee as the stairs began to move on their own. This was what she enjoyed. Doors would open for her, the stairs and carpets would carry her on her way, and she didn’t have to put any work in herself.

It felt very much like the natural order of things.

Her smile lasted until she reached the royal bedrooms. Her mother’s living quarters were technically on this floor but even before her disappearance the empress had been so busy that the two of them were rarely in here together.

A part of her wanted to walk over to her mother’s rooms and examine the scene of the crime for extra evidence that might point to where she had been taken, but the urge within her wasn’t strong enough to take action. Aurora had already investigated it. What chance did she have of finding anything new?

So she retired to her beautiful bedroom, a series of extravagant chambers that were furnished with the pinnacle of expensive furniture. Rugs woven from the harvested hair of unicorns, complex gnomish chairs that could take a number of shapes, a private stage with a pole in the center for any skilled dancing slaves to use. Her rooms held enough entertainment within them that she had no need to leave them for weeks if she desired.

But the top of the list on entertainment that she sought now was a little jar of mana on her bedside table. Hurrying over to it, she uncorked the bottle as soon as she could and held it up to her nostril. A quick inhale and a tiny amount of sparkling, multi-colored dust shot into her body and lit her nerves on fire.

“Oh, shit,” Laureline groaned, clenching her legs together. Her grip on her towel became weak and she flopped back onto the bed, not caring how undignified she looked.

Mana abuse was the most commonplace household problem in elven society, outstripping alcohol and other lesser drugs by far. Her life was ordinarily so happy and relaxed that she was content not to partake in inhaling mana but today of all days definitely called for it.

Consuming her own mana didn’t produce anywhere near the same amount of buzz as consuming another elf’s mana would, but she didn’t dare to try inhaling anyone else’s. That way led to a risk of addiction and dependency upon the mana that could only be provided by someone else. All nobles were cautious in this respect, so that they didn’t fall under the sway of a rival.

Feeling almost so light that she could float away, Laureline tossed her towel to the ground and rolled across the immense surface of her bed which was big enough to host an entire sleepover party if she desired. She felt like she was crawling across the surface of a cloud.

So time passed, with Laureline refueling her buzz with the occasional sniff of magic power and it ended up dragging on until the late afternoon before she finally received the summons from Aurora.

An enchanted paper airplane, its surface glittery with imbued mana, glided into her room and bore the seal of the Lady Aurora. Laureline was not accustomed to waiting for anything and was almost glad that she was finally being given an update.

Unfolding the airplane she read the instructions thoroughly before crumpling it into a ball and tossing it into the fireplace. Now was the time to get it over with.

----

In the vast stretch of land between the walls of the rest of the Royal Palace and the Inner Palace there were many unique and varied features of the landscape that had been added to the area over the centuries. Forests of many varieties of trees, flower gardens and ponds, rock-climbing walls and waterfalls; it provided enough outdoor entertainment that the nobles would never need to leave the palace to see the outside world.

One of the largest and best features towards the rear of the Inner Palace was a lake large enough for boating, swimming and keeping an entire aquarium of marine creatures. Lake Fortuna. Canals and carefully cultivated rivers connected and fed to the lake which was also tapped into by the rest of the palace as a source of fresh water and plumbing.

The true marvel of Lake Fortuna was beneath; tunnels and viewing chambers layered with magic-reinforced glass opened up on the lakebed giving unparalleled sights of schools of fish and sharks that populate the water. It was a privileged view available only to the royal family and therefore was as secure and hidden from view as could be achieved within the boundaries of the Inner Palace.

Through dark corridors beneath the ground Princess Laureline made her way to the meeting place. No guards lay in the path between her and the aquarium since it did belong to the Inner Palace. She knew that the majority of the guards lined the walls of the Inner Palace or patrolled its ground but almost none of them would be within the walls to see her. Security was overwritten by privacy.

The journey was long enough that her earlier buzz was fading and her mood soured with it. Her thoughts drifted to her mother’s other children, her many ‘sisters’ who were spread out among the empire. She had never been concerned with them before and knew only that there were a couple dozen of them, all of them younger than her but mature enough to be tasked with controlling cities and managing bureaucracy.

Laureline thought herself lucky that the burden of leadership wasn’t given to her, the firstborn, and that she would be taught in detail how to rule once her mother was ready to step. Now that the position of Empress and Queen was being thrust upon her, she worried at Aurora’s words that morning that her sisters might claim the throne. She had met only a few of them over the decades at formal events that brought no pleasant memories. Were they envious of her? Were they plotting even now to get revenge on her just for being lucky?

She shook her head clear of those incessant worries just as she reached the dark wooden doors embellished with carved fish that signified it was the room Aurora had written about. Laureline pushed her way inside discreetly.
The chamber was small but not oppressively so, and was lit only by a wide skylight in the ceiling which granted a lakebed view of the waters above, tinging the dark stone walls with shades of blue as sunlight passed through the water and the tinted glass.
Aurora sat at the opposite end of the room to the door, reclining on a lightweight wicker chair. A small traveling chest sat on the ground to her right, and to her left was a small table upon which a glass of wine was placed. Stone benches lined two of the walls on either side of her - where viewers would normally sit in order to appreciate the view of the lake. Laureline couldn’t recall ever being in this room before; the aquarium had much better open chambers than this.
Aurora smiled at her appearance; Laureline had dressed conservatively with a formal knee-length dress and white stockings. Elbow-length white gloves covered up more of her skin that her dress did not reach. She didn’t want to give Aurora the wrong impression by exposing herself too much, like she had that morning.
Laurline did not return the smile once she took in Aurora’s appearance; as if she had dressed as a mirror opposite to Laureline, Aurora wore completely dark clothes. A tight military-style jacket of dark leather with reinforced shoulder pads and elbow pads, dark grey trousers disappearing into knee-high leather boots with thick rubbery soles and she donned fashionable riding gloves to cover her hands.
Strangely none of her beauty was diminished by the formalwear and the dark colors complemented her raven black hair and serene expression.
“Welcome princess. Before you ask, I’m afraid I don’t have an update on your mother’s situation. The empress is still missing.”
Laureline blushed as she realized the question hadn’t even crossed her mind. Shouldn’t her mother’s disappearance have affected her more?
Laureline quickly became conscious of the fact that there was no other chair brought to the room for her. Her only options were to remain standing in front of Aurora as they spoke or sit on one of the hard stone benches which just looked uncomfortable and hardly appropriate for her royal behind.
She opted to remain standing, facing almost slightly to the side so that she wasn’t directly opposite Aurora. “I see… Thank you, Aurora. Now about this training…”

“Ahem. Princess, some backstory will be necessary so that you can comprehend the scheme I created with the Empress, which you will now be a part of. So I suggest you let me do the talking.”

Without waiting for a response to her ‘suggestion’, Aurora continued.

“In order to strengthen our empire your mother and I devised a plan to form an alliance with another nation. Almost every major race by tradition tends to stick to their own lands, making an alliance an unprecedented maneuver but we have the influence to make it happen. Four races have responded to our offers so far.”

Laureline nodded warily, following along so far even as the ludicrous nature of this plan was all too apparent.

“The only nations that responded to our requests for an alliance were the human nation of Damancia, the Jotun Queendom to the far north, the gel-swarm Oorway, and an orcish horde that has no name but more than enough military power to be a worthy candidate. You don’t have a choice of who you will end up with, so you must work on impressing all of them.”
“You expect me to negotiate with savages and greenskin scum, like--”
“Actually princess,” Aurora interrupted. “Strictly speaking the negotiations will be handled by myself. Your role is to please the envoys through whichever means work best, and to offer your hand in marriage to the nation which is best suited to our alliance. That is the role your mother volunteered to, and so it is the role you must fulfill.”
Laureline wanted to speak up to defend herself, but Aurora’s speech continued.
“Our society is a hierarchical culture based on strict adherence to dominance and submission along racial and class lines. Elves dominate non-elves. Nobles are superior to common citizens. As a princess you might have thought your position as royalty puts you above all others but you’d be wrong; a Queen serves her nation and puts the best interests of all her citizens first; so therefore you are at the bottom of the totem pole.”

Laureline’s expression was frigid, her body trembling with anger.

“Did you think I intended to teach you have to give a good speech or how to dress like a Queen? No, no, no, princess. The lesson you need above all others is a sharp correction to your attitude. So a healthy dose of humiliation will serve you well.”

“Is that so? Well, I refuse to be humiliated any more,” Laureline said huffily, marching over to the exit.

“Uh uh, not so fast,” Aurora tutted at her, snapping her fingers.

When Laureline gripped the handles of the door to push them open she found them to be unyielding. Her whole body leaned into the door and it refused to budge. She whirled around. “You’ve locked the door? You dare to bar my way?”

Aurora raised her hand and beckoned her closer with a single finger; an immense tugging force gripped Laureline’s body and dragged her towards Aurora, tripping her up and sending her sprawling to the floor.

When Aurora snapped her fingers a second time, glittery golden chains burst into existence, coiling around Laureline’s arms and legs. The chains contorted by her sinister will and rearranged Laureline’s position, forcing her to kneel before Aurora who had all the casual grace of a true lady.
“Well, you won’t be going anywhere for a while so it makes no difference if you’re locked in place,” Aurora said matter-of-factly.
“You can’t just keep me prisoner here! People will wonder where I am--”
“Nobody wonders where you are princess,” Aurora sighed, using the calm measured tones of a schoolteacher talking down to a bratty student. “Your servants are glad to be away from you, and the nobles at court only talk about you when they’re insulting you behind your back. The common folk see you as a faraway idol, but hardly as a real figure in their lives. Even Amelia, who longs to be with you, wouldn’t question a thing if she was told that you’re too busy to spend time with her. So you see, you have no one.”
Aurora reached down and cupped Laureline’s face in her hands. “No one except me. We have each other. In this room you and I are the only two people that exist.”
Laureline had never been inclined towards the magical arts even though she had the natural disposition towards it like so many elves. A serious commitment to magic, to any practical degree, meant work and effort, something that Laureline abhorred.
Now she was sorely beginning to regret her ignorance as she was helpless to Aurora’s restrictive magic.



“The Jotuns have’t sent us any special requirements but they're simple by nature. They usually care only for beauty in their partners and you at least have that going for you. When you deal with them, we’ll have you prettied up some more so that you will be like a perfect doll to them.”

Laureline felt sick to her stomach at that. As if she would be no more than an object for her future partner to bandy about. Jotun’s were supposed to be the biggest race of people on Earth. To them she truly would be no more than a doll.
“Orcs enjoy sullying beauty where they find it, and as one of the most beautiful elves alive you will be a grand prize for them. The war chief desires a submissive wife to worship every inch of her greenskin body.”
Laureline shuddered. The situation was becoming worse by the second. Greenskins were abhorrent to her kind, and yet Aurora was discussing Laureline’s potential marriage to one of them as if it was casual.

“We shall discuss the slime’s request later. For now let us focus on the human’s.”

“Humans?” Laureline shook her head at the mere mention of them. Humans were slaves for the elves; how could Aurora even talk about forming alliances with them, treating them as equals?

“The Damancian culture is fairly primitive. They believe that all life was created in the footsteps of a motherly goddess who walked across the surface of the world. As such they place a high level of importance on feet, and the worship of them.”

“Worshiping feet?” Laureline frowned. She enjoyed having her feet worshiped and attended to by slaves but that was purely for her own pleasure. A religion around worshiping feet was bizarre.

“Indeed. And so the princess of Damancia will expect you to offer a prayer up to her and worship her feet--”
“You can’t be serious,” Laureline gasped, interrupting Aurora. Even as she spoke she feared that she was in fact entirely serious. “I can’t touch another woman’s feet, much less a human’s! If any ladies of the royal court saw me, I’d be a laughing stock.”
Aurora shook her head. “Religion practices are sacred to the Damancians. You will need to do it in private, when you invite them into your personal chambers, but you will still need to do it. We shall practice before their arrival.”

“Practice? What do you mean practice?”

Aurora made no response but looked down at her boots and back up to Laureline.

Laurline felt the color drained from her face, what little of it there was. “You expect me to just get on my knees and kiss your feet?” Laureline growled.

“No,” Aurora smiled, catching Laureline off guard. “But I suspect you’ll want to do it when the alternative means your life will be ruined forever.”

“Perhaps I would rather that, than to humiliate myself like this,” Laureline stated, as boldly as she dared.
“I wonder what your sisters might do once they take power for themselves,” Aurora mused aloud. “They might be content with making you their personal slave and have you dance as a jester in court, or perhaps they would simply lock you within a Fleshmaiden for the rest of time.”
Laureline shuddered at the hideously unpleasant thought. She only knew a minor fraction of the horrors of the Fleshmaidens by reputation since she had heard her mother ordering some rebellious slaves to be imprisoned within them.
“Okay, I get your point,” Laureline muttered. “Anything would be better than that. But I don’t exactly imagine you’d be jumping for joy in my place either.”
“Trust me, I would not be in a rush to take your place but your role is not as bad as you can imagine. If we’re successful then your position as Queen is secured and you will have a long, fruitful life as the head of two powerful nations instead of just one. All you need to do is fulfill your role as a wife, and you’re set.”
Laureline sighed, folding her arms underneath her modest bust. Aurora’s words made sense to her; far too much sense to ignore or deny. If this truly was the price that she must pay to secure her happy life, then she would pay it.
“Okay. So what do I need to do?”
“I will teach you the proper prayers later, for now just focus on getting into the proper mindset by studying my feet carefully, and touching them of course.”

Inwardly cursing that she ever let Aurora talk her into this position, Laureline reached for Aurora’s boots. It took a little undignified wrangling to pull them off and set them to the side, and Aurora made little effort to help her. Laureline’s eyes widened when she saw that Aurora was barefoot beneath her leather boots - her toenails painted a deep black to stand out against her pale skin.

The distinct smell of leather was strong on them, but even more so was the familiar intoxicating scent of fresh mana. It was enough to kickstart Laureline’s salivary glands into overdrive just being close to them; Aurora had to have been wearing these boots all day since she left her that morning.

Never before had she had to kneel before another elf or be in such close proximity to their feet, but Laureline could tell right away that Aurora’s feet were as close to perfection as an elf could desire.

Laureline raised up her hands to cup Aurora’s soles, inwardly cringing and avoiding the smug look on Aurora’s face as best as she could. The soles were warm from their time in her boots and left a glittery mess all of her hands as she held them.
‘Oh no, oh I messed up,’ Laureline thought in panic. Snorting her own mana for most of the day had set her senses on fire and the scent of Aurora’s own mana was becoming all too apparent to her. Her experience with mana wasn’t strong enough to be called an addiction yet, but the desire within her was greater than it had even been before.
This act of ‘studying women’s feet’ and getting used to them was all a farce; there was only one thing that she knew Aurora would want her to do next. It was exactly what she had demanded of her own slave this morning and on most other days. Her lips pursed themselves tight automatically, as instinctively as if she had just tasted a fresh lemon. She knew that Aurora would want her to worship and lick her feet; the ultimate sign of dominating and owning a lesser subject in elven society.

“I can’t…” Laureline whispered, her hands trembling.

Aurora looked down upon her.

“Can’t… what?”

Laureline shook her head. “I can’t lick them. It’s wrong.”

Aurora’s expression turned fierce. “If you’re not content with my feet I could always fetch a servant or a slave for you to practice on. How do you think it would feel kneeling before that precious Pearl of yours and having to slather her soles in saliva?”

The horror-struck expression on Laureline’s face was all the answer Aurora required. “Then get to it.”

With all the willpower she could muster, Laureline brought up Aurora’s feet to her face and applied them to her face like a mask. From the painted toes digging into the blonde locks of her fringe to Aurora’s heels which rested against her chin, Laureline covered herself and took a deep sniff, as deep as she could manage. A rush of excitement of energy filled her body - recreating the high she experienced earlier in her bedroom.

The effect of another woman’s mana did indeed blow her own experiences out of the water. It was the final barrier that broke down and let her begin licking, dragging her tongue up Aurora’s pleasantly soft skin and collecting a delicious deposit of mana.

This couldn’t just be from the time spent in her boots; Aurora was clearly extremely aroused, no matter how stoic she kept her expressions. Laureline felt her own cheeks redden with a familiar blush of arousal. Aurora could hide it well, but the proof was all too apparent and both of them knew it now. Aurora was getting off on making the princess lick her feet - and princess Laureline could only press on and keep licking. She had no choice.

As an experiment in her youth she had tried eating out a couple of her girlfriends from trusted noble families, but never had she been as satisfied as when she made them eat her out. She had simply concluded that pleasuring others had not been in her nature - and here she was, with her future on the line, dependent on her ability to please another woman.
“Hmm, your performance is very lackluster so far princess. I’ve had much better tongue-baths from slaves half your age. What could be the problem? Surely it isn’t a lack of motivation, since I am sacrificing my spare time and offering up my perfectly pedicured feet for you to practice on. Perhaps it is because you don’t have a strong enough deterrent for failure, is that it?”
Laureline kept licking Aurora’s soles, hoping that Aurora was simply taunting her. How could she make this situation any worse for her?
Aurora snapped her fingers and a ball of light descended into the room, passing through the glass skylight above them as if it weren’t there. Laureline pulled back, looking up in fright as the ball of light settled on Aurora’s lap and coalesced into a diminutive bipedal figure.
“Huh?” Laureline blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
Standing opposite her, only 6 inches tall, was a tiny woman with glowing insectile wings. It was hard to say whether she was clothed or naked, but her entire was glittery with a layer of mana residue which masked her private parts either way.
“Princess, meet Trixie. She is a fairy who has been a good friend and companion to me in recent decades. She will be helping us out tonight to keep you properly dedicated.”

Laureline started, sure that she heard her wrong. “Tonight? How long are these lessons supposed to go on for?”

“For as long as necessary. Starting now you shall not leave this room until Trixie and myself are satisfied with your progress. Now, Trixie, you know the drill.”
“Yes ma’am,” the little fairy squeaked out, throwing up an enthusiastic salute.
“What are you going to do to me?” Laureline gasped, eyeing the fairy which turned to her with a sadistic grin.
“Every time you disobey my instructions or fail to prove your commitment to our mission, we shall punish you. You will not enjoy the punishments, and they will correct your behaviour.”
“Punish me?” Laureline gasped, dreading the word right from the start.
“I had that authority when you were learning your lessons, and now school time is back in session,” Aurora stated, a little too smugly than what was appropriate. “But don’t you think you will get off lightly with a smacked bottom.”
Many decades ago, Aurora had been in charge of punishing the young princess as she grew up and acted out, as spoiled royalty inevitably tended to do. The worst she had experienced was the firm smack of Aurora’s palms across her bare buttocks.
It was the only time anyone dared to lay hands upon her, and for months after the punishments she would sulk.
Now that she had grown up, she could appreciate the value of a little discipline in the past but she had no desire to return to those days.
“No, Aurora, please! You don’t need to punish me. I’ll… I’ll try harder!”
“I know you will princess,” Aurora smiled, an expression that was as sinister as a mask of fury. “But you will still be punished nonetheless. I do not intend for these lessons to be pleasant for you.” Aurora smirked. “Although, who knows. You might end up enjoying them.”
Before Laureline could question that last statement, the little fairy finally took action.
With a cruel zap of magical force, the fairy sent a spark to dance across Laureline’s buttocks. The magic wasn’t impacted in the least by the flimsy silk that barred the way and as the fairy directed another shot to strike at her creamy backside, singed holes began to open up in the fabric.
“Ahh! Ah shit,” Laureline groaned, instinctively trying to budge out of the way of the stinging pain. The chains held her well however, and she was a sitting duck for the fairy’s aim. To Trixie, the perfectly rounded globes of Laureline’s ass were a conspicuously large target and she giggled as she aimed the harmless magical blasts to tease and hurt the princess.
“Ah, ah, Aurora! She’s hurting me,” Laureline cried out, hating how impetuous and childlike she sounded. She was caught between a lustful elf and a sadistic fairy.
“It is for your own good, princess,” Aurora said soothingly, stroking her cheek.
Trixie floated around, hovering eye level to Laureline and echoed the words in her cutesy voice; “It is for your own good.” She punctuated her words with another stabbing pain to Laureline’s backside.
Seeing that begging wasn’t getting her anywhere, Laureline placed delicate little kisses on Aurora’s feet, one on each toe, and then moved on to her soles, desperately trying to earn some goodwill and stop the onslaught of pain.
“Good princess, good,” Aurora simpered. “You’re beginning to understand. You are now a slave princess; a slave to the crown. Slaves need to be punished when they’re being bad, and now you’re trying to be so good for me. The lessons are already working so well.”
Trixie took that as a sign to relent and the stinging pain halted. Laureline kept up to the kisses as passionately as she could manage. She would do anything to avoid being tortured - pain was something she could never deal with after a lifetime of insulation and safety.
“She’s a slacker,” Trixie commented loudly, coming to a rest on top of Laureline’s head and gripping a couple of locks of golden hair like reins. Even a gentle tug from someone as small as her sent winces of pain from her scalp. Laureline gritted her teeth in frustration. It was hard to believe that so much sadism could be contained within that teeny tiny creature.
“The human delegation arrives in just over a week. I’ll have you crowned and transformed into a perfect little footslut before then, mark my words. Now, focus a little bit more between the toes…”