Warning -- yet another Haedin-is-evil, with some sexual themes that may
offend some readers.  If you're underage or offended by that sort of thing,
please skip this.

[Haedin Meradh -- Breakfast, Tellari Estate]

Haedin sat back as the servants cleared away the dishes, his eyes drifting
over the others.  Aelxirn had pulled Sherri aside and Lothar's wife had
pulled him into a quiet discussion.  Lothar smiled a bit cruelly at Coneta
and she frowned, hissing at him.  Lothar's smile grew broader and more cold
as his wife lost a fraction of control, her voice rising loud enough to be
heard.

"You call that vile man a friend! You're more *stupid* then I would have
thought! I'll not stand for this!"

"You have no choice." Lothar's voice rang coldly.

Haedin let his amusement show as her eyes met his.  He nodded in a mocking
salute as she stormed out of the room -- with some dignity, perhaps, but it
was a temper tantrum all the same -- and he rose to speak to Lothar.

"I take it that she's not pleased with my gift."

"No," said Lothar with some satisfaction.  "She's not."

Haedin nodded and then a tiny smile crossed his lips.  "You know, your new
toy will need a place to stay...  I could keep her in my wing, of course,
but that's such a long walk, even for a luscious bit... Wouldn't it be more
convenient for her to have the rooms next to yours?"

"But those are Coneta's rooms..."  Understanding dawned in Lothar's eyes
and he smiled somewhat viciously.  "Of course.  I'll ask Lady Tellari about
it immediately."

"Oh -- wait for a few hours.  I think I need to have a talk with your
wife."  Haedin laughed.  "You may find her a bit more receptive to your
whims..."

Lothar's mouth opened and then shut.  He smiled slightly.  "Any whim?"

"I can't say how successful I'll be, but I doubt that she'll object to your
toy, or what precedence you place on the girl.  As to more than that... 
We'll just have to see."  Haedin looked at him.  "I'm not planning to do
anything all that terrible, Lothar, so you needn't be concerned."

Lothar laughed.  "Oh, I'm not.  Do whatever you like with her.  I don't
really need her anymore."

Haedin's dark eyes glowed with a cold light.  "I thought you might feel
that way about it."

Taking a detour around the room to Sherri, he bowed rather perfunctorily to
Aelxirn and smiled down at the woman.  "I'm going to have a little chat
with the Lady of Lotherra.  She's in a position to cause problems if not
handled correctly.  After that, we have a few things we need to discuss, my
lady."  He looked at Aelxirn.  "Have a good journey, Aelxirn.  I imagine
we'll be seeing you again soon?"

Aelxirn nodded and Haedin waylaid a young maid.  "Ah, my dear girl.  Could
you show me to the Lady Coneta's quarters?"

"M'lord?  Yes, m'lord.  This way, if you please, m'lord."  She bobbed her
head and led him through the corridors.  A graceful creature and admirably
eager to please.  Her brown eyes showed only a trace of fear, quickly
hidden.  She would be one to watch.  "Her ladyship is in these rooms, and
Lord Lothar is in the adjoining suite.  Is there anything else, m'lord,
that I may do to serve you?"

"Not of the moment, dear child."  He brushed a light finger across her
cheek, and smiled.  "But that may change later.  You have served well and
admirably, my dear."

The girl bobbed another curtsey and left, restraining herself from moving
at anything greater than a sedate pace.  Not a pretty girl, which was no
surprise to Haedin, who doubted that Sherri wanted any competition in her
household for beauty, but smart.  With a little corruption, she might do
for his own household.  She had exactly the demeanor he wanted trained into
his own staff...

Dismissing the matter from his mind, Haedin walked into Coneta's rooms
without knocking.

"Get out, Regil."

Coneta's cold voice echoed from the bed, and Haedin smirked.  How very
appropriate.

"Really, my dear.  If that is any example of your duty to your husband, I
cannot but wonder why it is he didn't seek warmer arms long ago."  His lips
twisted sardonically as Coneta struggled upright, gasping in outrage. 
"Now, Coneta-my-love, I think that it's time for us to have a little chat."

"Get out!"

"Oh, I don't think so."  He turned the lock on the door and padded over to
the bed, taking an indolent seat upon the covers.

"OH!"

Haedin laughed, catching Coneta's enraged slap easily.  "Now, now, dear
lady, don't be so hasty.  You're very familiar with having men other than
your husband in your bed, so don't be coy."

"What do you want, Meradh?  Not content with giving my husband a whore, you
want to rape me?  Do you think I'll keep silent?"

Haedin's lips twitched as his eyes moved over her body, considering.

"Really, Coneta, is that any way to speak to a friend?  One who knows all
your little secrets?"  He pulled her closer, lips brushing a breath away
from her ear.  "The keys to all your little pleasures?"  He felt a shiver
go through her before she tried to pull away.  Keeping her hand imprisoned,
he traced random patterns on the inside of her wrist before bringing her
fingers to his lips and breathing a kiss above her knuckles.  "Are we
really all that different, Coneta?  Are all those pretty boys you've
trained for your bed really that much different from the maids I take to
mine?  Don't you enjoy finding young, impressionable virgins and teaching
them how to touch you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Soft little hands, not yet roughened by work...  Do they feel like silk
against your skin, teasing you...?"

Coneta pulled away, violently, breath coming in quick little gasps.  "I
certainly do not!"

"Really?"  He released her hand, but she didn't really notice as he moved
closer.  "What about Ethlan and Tammias... handsome young twins, aren't
they... and so disappointed when you evicted them from your bed...  Vedrun
was a favorite of yours, for a while, though you were fond of Ferdic... 
And of course there was Nunlot, far and away your favorite little toy." 
Haedin's breath caressed the back of her neck as he came around behind her,
his hands running millimeters above her arms, but never quite touching
despite the heat he knew she felt from them.  "Poor little Nunlot -- or
should I say Ce'lot? -- what was it about him that you found so
fascinating?  Did he have clever little hands, Coneta?  Did he touch you as
though your skin was the smoothest satin and as fragile as spider silk?" 
His hands drifted to her breasts, smiling softly against her hair as her
nipples peaked, straining toward the fingers that refused to -- quite --
touch them.  "Did he sip the wine of your lips?  Trace the line of your jaw
with his tongue?"

"I... I don't know what you're..." her voice trailed off, and her back
arched, brushing her breasts against his hands before they drifted further
down.

"Don't be so coy, my dear," Haedin whispered into her ear, nipping lightly,
almost imperceptibly with his lips.  "I've seen your little lovers, their
skilled mouths...  You can almost feel them, can't you?  Licking, stroking,
sucking, biting..."  He laid his palm flat over her belly, letting the heat
of his hand seep through her skirts.  "Where do you want them, Coneta? 
Here?"  His hand moved lightly,  "Lower, perhaps?"

Coneta moaned, arching her head back, hips undulating, beneath his touch.

"Do you have them cover you like a blanket, Coneta?..."  his tongue traced
against the nape of her neck, "...or do they take you from behind, like the
bitch in heat that you are?"

She shifted beneath his hands, legs opening as his hands traced her upper
thighs.

"Would it be rape, Coneta?  You're flushed, my dear, your breasts taut and
sensitive..."  He cupped her through her clothes, he other hand tracing
lightly over her breasts.  "If I lifted your skirts now, you would flow for
me like warm honey, wouldn't you?"  She arched into his hands and he could
feel her soaking through her skirts.  He pressed his lips into her ear,
"Wouldn't you?"

"Yes..." she hissed.  "Gods... please..."

"You do enjoy your pleasures, don't you, Coneta..."  He moved her skirts
out of the way, letting his fingers dive through wet curls on a search for
the sensitive nub that was begging for attention.  "You'd open your pretty
little legs for me, wouldn't you Coneta?  Any time, any place?"

"Yes..."  Coneta's legs opened farther, hips undulating beneath his hand. 
"...please... Gods... take me..."

Haedin almost laughed as his fingers danced around her clit and she
stiffened, shudders ripping through her as he placed his mouth against her
ear.  "Warm, wet, soft and inviting... What a pity there's nothing here
them I find even remotely interesting..."

"Oh..."  Coneta's pleasure was vocal and wildly amusing, given the rage
that filled her eyes.  He kept her at the pinnacle, fingers flicking her
from peak to peak until she could sustain it no longer.  He stood and
stared down at her, smiling sardonically as she lay, skirts up and thighs
spread wide, glistening with her wetness, her breathing harsh and strained.

"And you call Lothar's little toy a whore.  At least she knows how to give
pleasure, Coneta, and I very much doubt that there's any enjoyment to be
found in your cold body...  Though you look very pretty that way, your
assets displayed to some advantage..."

"You bastard..."  Coneta jerked her skirts down and Haedin laughed.

"I think you mean 'vile bastard,' don't you?"  Reaching down, he traced a
still erect nipple and Coneta moaned, arching into his touch involuntarily.
"And you would still spread for me any time I ask, wouldn't you?"

She glared at him but didn't deny it.

"Now, my dear, you are going to listen to what I say and you are going to
do what I tell you to do...  First and foremost, you're going to accept
Lothar's concubine with good grace and accept her children as your own."

"Never!  That rutting bastard will *never* have my acquiescence to having a
whore in my household!"

"Coneta... Coneta..."  He laughed.  "You must be joking!  You only ever had
one truly important duty when you married Lothar and by denying him the
rather dubious pleasures of your bed, you neatly kept yourself from the
only true security you could have had...  With the application of just a
little skill, you could have ruled him... but instead of bedding him and
getting with child, you preferred to seduce children and train them for
your pleasure...  Tell me, Coneta, do you do that because you can't handle
the desire of real men, or because your tastes are so perverse that only
innocent boys corrupted in your perfumed bower will think them normal?"

"You..."  She stopped as she caught the sardonic look in his eyes.

"I know the names of all of your little toys, Coneta...  In fact, several
of them are popular servants of mine, when some of the ladies of the
plateau come to visit.  I must congratulate you, as you *do* train them
well for a woman's pleasure..."  He traced a finger along her cheek.  "You
disapprove of me because I'm honest with the virgins I take to my bed and
train to serve...  but you...  What do you do?  Deceive them with claims of
*love?*"

She slapped him and he let her, laughing at the fury in her eyes as he
captured her hands easily in one of his.

"Your husband broke in a virgin last night, Coneta... I wonder if he'll be
able to tell the difference between his first night with her and his first
night with you..."  Her cheeks paled and he bent his lips to her throat,
blowing against the sensitive cords before trailing his lips to her nape. 
"I know that no man had explored her sweet cleft before him, since I
examined her before making the gift...  I wonder how many had eased
themselves in yours?"  He brushed his lips against her ear.  "Did they just
take their pleasure without giving you any?  Is that why your corrupt bower
turns out such skilled male whores?"

"Damn you..."  She arched against him as his free hand moved against her.

"Did Gerard even enjoy the time he spent between your thighs?"  He laughed
as she began to writhe against him.  "You'll accept Lothar's concubine,
Coneta, in any position he plans to place her...  If you want your position
back, I suggest you earn it... the traditional way..."

"No..."  It came out in a gasp and Haedin stepped back from her, hands
stilling and lifting from her skin.

"Very well, Coneta..."  He walked to the door and unlocked it.

"Damn you, wait...  You can't..."  Her own hands moved to quench the fire
he'd set and Haedin went back to her.

"You'll accept his concubine?"

"Yes, damn you..."

His hands drifted beneath her skirts and she came in a long stream of
curses.

"Work on bringing Lothar back under your control...  If you're good, I
might even give you what you really want, Coneta...  A real man in your
bed."

He walked out, ignoring her deprecations and laughing to himself.

------
NRPG -- So Haedin's not nice. 
*shrugs*  James, you *sure* Sherri wants to get involved with this man?
*grins*

Respectfully Submitted,
Jill E. Flansburg
Haedin Meradh, Lord of Daorith Pass
Xylian Warren
DragonLands

                 X-FILES                         DRAGONLANDS

  Assistant Director                     Rhiannon, WarrenLady  *Xylian*
  Sterling Kincaid, Team Leader, ECHO    Elswyth and Aedra   *Keldarra*
  Damien Cunningham, UD DELTA            Katla and Satinka *Whiteriver*
  Xan X. Xavier, Trainer, Classroom A    Zera and Mazel       *Norwall*

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			      Vasaris, the Fuzzy Dragon
       Jill E. Flansburg	    |		            vasaris@az.com
       CS HMC 1994	          |		jflansbu@muddcs.cs.hmc.edu
       History, WWU 199?          |		vasaris@divcom.umop-ap.com
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