She runs, and runs, and runs. Until her lungs are burning, until every time she inhales and exhales she feels the sharp air clawing at her throat. Her wedding dress is stained and ripped, with some tiny branches and leaves attached to the ruined, pearly lilac fabric.
She slows her footing, making her way into a deep, humid forest. The sun has just fully set. The beautiful reflections of pinks and oranges on her face as she walked the altar weren’t enough to comfort her through the ceremony. She has never wanted to marry him, the mere thought of the prince’s rough fingers on her wrist as he pronounced his vows stabbed incurable melancholy into her heart.
Hailan sits by a shallow pond, slipping that comically large ruby off her finger and throwing it into the water. She begins crying again as the breeze stings the exposed skin of her neck. She rips the tiara off her head too, letting her inky hair fall down on her shoulders as a sort of shield from the outside world. They couldn’t find her even if they tried. Not the king’s men, not her parents’ troops. Or at least she thinks so.
Her loud wails cancel every sound the nature produces around her. Everything is muffled, even soft, careful steps of black boots pressing on muddy leaves.
Hailan feels a warm hand caressing her head, which startles her at first. She snaps her head up, not having any more energy to run away, and knowing only one person could have dared touching her that way.
“Rufus…” she sighs, her tone coming out more somber than she intended.
“My lady,” the high commander kneels in front of her, dirtying her pure white pants at the knee. “Are you alright?”
“I’m not.” Hailan lunges forward and drops her forehead on Rufus’ golden epaulette, which prompts the woman to wrap her arms around the princess’ shivering body. “I don’t want to go back, I don’t want to marry him. Why did you follow me?”
“I knew I couldn’t lose you out here to a mountain lion. I won’t force you to go back, we can find a way.” Rufus pulls herself and Hailan upright, then sheds her coat and wraps it around the princess’ shoulders.
Rufus has known Hailan’s feelings on the matter ever since the marriage was first announced. Hailan has never wanted to participate in her parents’ political schemes, much less marry a prince she barely even knew.
Hailan has never been a ‘proper princess’. Even though she inserted her opinions in every one of her parents’ affairs, being highly educated in everything her kingdom would consider high art, politics or science, she much preferred sparring with the late Commander Shinra’s heir and escaping her overbearing duties.
The beautiful, strong woman who is helping her jump on her white battle horse right now has been her best friend from birth. The girl she has admired from afar when Hailan was fully convinced she was a boy by the way her father referred to her and presented her to the world. The rumors and the eventual revelation of the truth weren’t shocking to her, they only made Hailan consider Rufus even more precious to her heart. She is the only person she could confide in and that could understand her struggles.
Plans of marriage, being desirable to a powerful prince or king, that’s everything she feared – and still fears – the most.
They have been both subjected to society’s pressure and their parents’ obligations, that’s why Rufus cannot blame Hailan for running away on such a critical and decisive day. So she hopped on her horse and followed her, making sure that Hailan couldn’t see her until her rage and frustration had worn off.
“Take me to your home, please.” Hailan pleads, clinging onto Rufus’ body, rubbing her tear stained face on the woman’s angelic, blonde curls.
“At your orders, your majesty.” Rufus lets her lips curl into a fond grin as she takes off toward Shinra manor, where she knows Hailan’s royal pressure won’t hunt her down, at least until her parents will get heavily concerned about her whereabouts.
-
“Are you planning on talking to the queen?” Rufus inquires, sitting on the corner of her bed, with her shirt half unbuttoned, as she brushes her hair.
“I want to, but I know she won’t listen. The Tsengs are not good people, Ru.” Hailan twists under the sheets in a flowy nightgown Rufus has kept in her closet for ages just so she could lend it to Hailan at any time she wished to come visit.
“Then what do you want to do?” Rufus turns her head around and searches for Hailan’s brown, deer-like eyes.
Hailan pretends to think about it for a few seconds, averting Rufus’ piercing gaze, but the answer has been clear to her since that heaviness in her heart started making her every moment harder to bear. “What if we ran away?”
“Lani… I cannot be held responsible for capturing a princess away from her kingdom. They would catch us anyway and my head would be cut clean off.” Rufus puts her brush down on the bedside table, then stands up as she begins to take off her muddied pants.
“Then… let’s pretend I was killed. Somewhere in the forest. Like you said, by a mountain lion. My body has been torn and eaten so much that you and your troops couldn’t recover it.” Hailan speaks, not one second taking her eyes away from her friend undressing herself. Her muscular thighs covered by pale fuzz, her broad, scarred shoulders, the line of her tight waist landing on androgynous hips.
“Your tales are beautiful, your majesty. You should consider taking up writing.” Rufus remarks with a smile, sarcastic. She climbs in the bed with only her underwear shielding her intimate parts, not a single care about covering her breasts from Hailan’s curious glances. “Let’s rest now, we’ll excogitate our plan in the morning.”
Hailan adjusts her body so it lies on her side, facing Rufus and her surprisingly vulnerable, tired expression.
“I’m so sorry… I can’t imagine how much I made you worry earlier.” Hailan reaches for the hand Rufus has placed on her own chest, interlocking their fingers together.
Hailan can feel Rufus exhale a shaky, anxious breath. “I don’t know how I would have acted if I hadn’t done everything in my power to catch you. I reassured your parents that you would be okay, I told off my troops so they wouldn’t follow me.”
The princess listens carefully, not wanting to interrupt her usually cold, silent knight voicing her feelings for the first time.
“What matters to me is that you’re safe and protected. All my life I worked so hard to be worthy of shielding you. I can’t think about taking you away from your home and faking your death, I could never forgive myself even if that’s the lie I will tell everyone.” Rufus takes her eyes off the ceiling she’s been staring at for minutes, so she can look at Hailan’s let down, yet relieved expression. “I’m sure they wouldn’t forgive me either.”
Hailan detangles their fingers and hoists herself up, bringing her hand to Rufus’ cheek and caressing it with her thumb. “That was so reckless of me… I just wanted to escape as fast as I could. I didn’t think about the consequences. I can talk to my mother, I-… I can make it better.”
“I’ll be there with you, every step of the way.” Rufus slithers her hand down Hailan’s back and brings her closer. “I’m ready to declare war on anyone that will try to make a decision for you.”
“What about the prince?”
Rufus flips their positions, straddling Hailan’s soft thighs with her muscular ones.
“He can find another princess. I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”
Hailan looks up at the commander in awe. Her pale, loose curls cascading down her face and framing it in a way that softens her features while she also furrows her brows in conviction, making her look like a fallen angel ready to take her spot in the darkest, glacial pits of hell.
“Take me.” The princess claims with pleading eyes. “I don’t want anyone but you.”
Rufus grins softly and lowers herself so she can meet her pink lips with Hailan’s flushed ones. The princess whines in surprise at the contact, savoring her first kiss by letting Rufus guide her inexperienced lips.
The commander notices Hailan’s hands nervously twitching at her sides as she breaks their kiss for a moment to catch their breaths, so as soon as their lips connect again she takes Hailan’s hand and brings it to one of her breasts, guiding her motions as she grabs the tender fat sitting on top of Rufus’ built pecs.
As the princess is busy with her task, Rufus drags her hand downward to find the hem of Hailan’s nightgown. She pulls it up rapidly and drags her fingers across the soft, tan skin of her inner thighs, which makes Hailan twitch under her touch. She reaches the dark hair of her pubes, where she starts to blindly test the waters with her finger pads, in search of Hailan’s sensitive nub.
As soon as Rufus drags her finger across, slicking up the princess’ clit with her own wetness, Hailan shakes her body violently, lifting her hips from the mattress to meet the commander’s touch.
“Does that feel good, my liege?” Rufus breaks their kiss so she can whisper to Hailan as she peppers wet pecks across her jaw and neck.
“H-how… how did you know- mhm…” Hailan grabs on Rufus’ hair, careful not to hurt her, but still trying to find a way to anchor herself to reality as the other woman fastens up the pace of her rubbing.
“I tried it on myself, pretty.” Rufus bites Hailan’s tender neck with her sharp, wolf-like teeth. “I know what makes a woman writhe in pleasure.”
Hailan thanks the Gods that the servants’ quarters are on the lowest floor as she shoots a yell at the sting of the bite.
“I better be the only woman you’ve tried this on other than yourself…” the princess blushes at the selfish expression that comes out of her mouth, realizing that her obsession with her best friend and protector might actually be deeper than she initially thought.
She continues grinding her hips desperately, a teardrop of sweat trailing down her forehead where her inky hair has started attaching itself to the skin. Rufus keeps teasing her, faster and harder, until the muscles of her arms are aching.
“I… I feel it-” Hailan gasps at the warmth settling down in her lower belly, gradually stronger shocks of electricity running through the nerves of her pretty cunt. She grabs Rufus’ bicep and looks in her icy eyes filled with lust with her own fiery ones that would be able to melt the commander’s for how intense her pleasure is, then she begs: “Please, give it to me!”
She can’t even count the seconds between her demand and the final rush running across her entire body, settling in her cunt and leaking from her entrance in drops of heavenly juice as she clenches her walls on air. The princess releases whines and heavy breaths filled with love, feeling her exhaustion for being pushed to the edge so suddenly and unexpectedly.
“Oh, that’s it.” Rufus smiles as she takes her fingers wet with Hailan’s orgasm up to her lips and licks it up languidly. “You don’t know for how long… I’ve wanted to do this to you.”
“H-how long exactly?” Hailan asks, still having to regain her breath fully.
“Ever since I started feeling anything of the kind of attraction the bishop would have me hanged for.” Rufus moves away from Hailan’s thighs, kneeling beside her so she can slip off her underwear. “Around when I saw your body being shoved in a corset for the first time. We were young, Lani.”
The filthy confession and Rufus’ gorgeous, completely bare body in front of her – that looks as if sculpted by the Gods – make her cunt start pulsating again.
“Will you help me?” Rufus asks with the kindest tone Hailan has ever heard coming out of her mouth. So vulnerable and needy, begging to be touched, that it sends a shock through Hailan’s mind.
The realization of how much she’s been pining for her retainer for pretty much her entire life as well settles in the princess’ consciousness, giving her a burst of energy that makes her get up and slip her nightgown fully, just so her beloved knight can see her in all of her royal beauty.
Her round, perfectly shaped freckled breasts and flat nipples, accompanied by soft areolas, give Hailan an air of noble youthfulness ready to be savoured. Rufus swallows the thick, hungry knot formed at her throat.
“Come on.” The princess settles back in the bed and smiles at her knight in an inviting way, who doesn’t waste any time and settles in between her honey-toned legs, spread wide open just for the high commander, and lifts them up so she can place them on her own hips.
Rufus caresses Hailan’s gentle face, the face she stared at and longed for for her entire life, tracing the features she dreams of every night, thinking about how lucky she is that the princess sees her too.
Hailan wraps her hand around Rufus’ wrist, nuzzling her nose on her palm, then leaving a kiss on the warm skin. “My knight, my loyal protector, my love…”
“Yes, your majesty?”
“I want to feel you, too.” Hailan snakes her other hand on Rufus’ face and traces the small bump on her nose bridge, then moving on a small scar on her cheekbone, then brushing her lucid bottom lip. “Hurry up.”
Rufus leaves a peck on her hand, like the thousands of times she did to greet her princess, trying to suffocate a smile, then she pushes both of Hailan’s legs upward, until she’s yelping and writhing at the uncomfortable compression.
“Stay still.” The commander orders, her tone suddenly dropping into a low, dark and dangerous one, which makes the princess exhale a faint whine and obey her.
Rufus adjusts her position, spreading her own legs in turn and sinking down on top of the princess so their cunts could meet directly.
She wastes no time and starts moving her hips, pushing forward and back, left and right, until she’s tracing circling patterns on Hailan’s sensitive pussy, until her humping makes their clits rub together.
The commander lets out a low sigh and throws her head down as her pressure is finally being released, her needs completely tended to.
She forced the princess into a still position so she could take everything she has always needed, and so Hailan could get used to the sickly sweet feeling of their most intimate parts uniting in tandem, their innermost feelings melting into a honey mix she’d be glad to store into a jar and taste from it every day of her life.
Rufus immediately fastens the pace, chasing the feeling her own fingers tried to give her for so long, but this is much better. Hailan’s soft cunt is like nothing she could imagine: so plump, tender, slick and delicious. The commander already thinks of all the times she will sneak her princess into a dark, tight room just so she can crawl under her skirt and shove her face on her pussy, licking and eating it like it’s her last day in this world, like it’s her last wish before being executed for treason.
The high commander’s rapid movements aren’t enough, she’s starting to become restless and irritated, so she lowers one of Hailan’s legs, practically moving her like a ragdoll – with little to no protest from the princess – and interlocks herself in between, creating an unholy cross made of limbs and desire.
“I’m going to need you to move your hips for me, Lani.” Rufus starts grinding her own, guiding Hailan with her pace. “Like this, baby.”
“Oh… Ru…” Hailan obeys, putting all her little leftover stamina to pleasure her beloved knight in return. Despite her inexperience, she wants to learn and keep trying, testing the waters of what makes Rufus crumble and lose herself completely in her lust.
The synced movements make Rufus see stars, her own cunt leaking non-stop over Hailan’s, slicking them both up and easing the rhythm of their motions.
The commander clings onto the princess’ leg, kissing her calf and sensitively moaning on the supple skin of her lover, as her clit burns with the quivering waves of desire bringing her closer and closer to the shores of her orgasm.
All it takes is a few more minutes of incessant thrusts from the commander and the shy reverb of the princess’ unsure moves to take Rufus to her peak. She grabs onto Hailan’s hips and digs her nails into them as pleasure shivers throughout her sweaty body, making her hips stutter as she gasps.
She regains her breath for a few seconds, then tends to her impatient princess, who has been clinging to her arm ever since the humping stopped. The commander lets her own wildest thoughts get a hold of her, so she dips down in between Hailan’s legs, letting her hungry tongue swipe in between the woman’s folds, tasting both of their juices on one single plate.
“Shit!” Hailan moans, hand grasping onto Rufus’ sweaty, messy curls and pushing her head flush against her cunt.
Rufus smiles at the vulgar expression coming out from the princess’ noble mouth, but she doesn’t let that distract her from her task. She sucks on Hailan’s swollen and sensitive clit, moaning on it to send good vibrations to the organ.
It doesn’t take too long for Hailan to reach her orgasm as well, this time much stronger than the last one, sending a weak river of nectar right into Rufus’ welcoming mouth. She might have to rank this as her most satisfying experience in her life.
The high commander cleans the corner of her mouth with her tongue as she looks up at her princess’ exhausted expression. Hailan looks back at her and breaks into the sweetest, most joyful and satisfied laughter Rufus has ever heard.
“That’s disgusting, Ru!” Hailan keeps laughing, not a care in the world about it being night and the servants sleeping.
“Shh!” Rufus starts laughing too as she flops next to Hailan’s spent body, similarly to how they began. “You’re going to wake up everyone!”
“Then you stop being gross!”
“It’s not gross! That was delicious.”
“Then let me taste it.” Hailan pulls Rufus into a passionate, languid kiss without giving the commander any time to think.
They kiss for a while, losing track of time and forgetting about the taste altogether. All they know is that they never want this to end.
“So, was it gross?”
“I want to do it again.”
-
“Your majesty.” Rufus irrupts into the room in all her golden glory.
The situation is dire for Hailan. The king and queen were thinking about punishing her for disappearing like that, her promised prince’s presence there wasn’t making it any better. The pressure is too great, and her lover showed up at the right time.
The high commander unsheaths her sharp, glowing sword, planting it on the ground in between Hailan and the prince.
“I have to beg you, your majesties. This is not what the princess wishes for.” She kneels in front of the monarchs, facing them with conviction. “You won’t listen to her, not even let her speak, but I’ve been watching over her for as long as I have lived. Her life and happiness mean to me more than anything else. My only and insignificant wish is for her to be at peace with herself.”
The prince is taken aback by the sureness of the commander’s words. “And how do you know this is what’s best for her?” He responds.
“How do I know this is what’s best for your economic and political interest and not the well being of my princess?” Rufus stands up and stares down at the prince in front of him, a vain individual that doesn’t even deserve that title. Her impressive height and build makes him look like a scared worm in comparison.
Hailan cannot lie, being the center of attention like this makes her terrified, though also incredibly aroused at the way Rufus stands up for her.
“How dare you speak to a prince like that, Shinra!” The king sits up from his throne, squaring Rufus down. Not a single cell in her body wants to back down.
“That’s enough!” The queen speaks up. “Commander, your wishes have been heard. Your majesties, I will have to excuse myself,” the older woman steps down her throne and whispers something in the king’s ear, then makes her way to Hailan’s side. She glances between the other two women. “We can take this to another place.”
-
“Tell me, my child.” The queen sits down on a pretty garden bench, pulling the princess to sit by her side.
The sound of the little stream passing around their immense gardens has always been comforting for Hailan. The purple flowers all around remind her of earlier days, when she would train her fencing skills with Rufus, then promptly fall in one of the ponds until the other girl would pick her up bridal style and walk her to the palace so she could get changed and not freeze to death. Unpleasant as they were, those falls actually made for really fond memories.
“Mother…” Hailan takes the queen’s hands in hers. “The plans of marrying that… prince have brought me nothing but pain and melancholy. I haven’t had the chance to speak to you like this in a long time, and trying to convince father to listen to me is impossible.”
She takes a shaky breath. “So I implore you, do not let him take me as his bride, I’m already happy like this. I have everything I could ask for…”
Her gaze shifts from her twitching hands to Rufus’ nervous figure far away, walking back and forth with her hands clasped behind her back as she waits for the sentence.
“You mean her?” The queen smiles, never a single thing slipping past her. Hailan must’ve taken that characteristic from her.
“I- no. I mean- you, and father, and our kingdom.”
“I know you love us very much, but I can sense you mean something different.” The queen remarks. “I have known Rufus ever since she was a baby, I’ve practically watched her be born as I was still pregnant with you, and let me tell you, that was really an experience.” The older woman starts giggling at the memory. “I have never seen a father be so mad about having a daughter that he purposefully chooses a man’s name for her!”
“Keep quiet, mom!” Hailan shoves her lightly.
“Oh, dear. I have to say, I’m glad she’s not bound by him anymore.” The queen recomposes herself. “But I wanted to tell you… I know you two have had a special bond for a long time, I also know she is the only person that genuinely makes you joyous about the tiniest of things, I could never take that away from you.”
“Thank you, mother-”
“I’m not done!” The woman places a finger on Hailan’s mouth. “I will talk with your father. The kingdom isn’t at any risk right now, and I know if the day you had to become queen ever came to be, you would know what to do.”
The queen pulls her in for a hug, leaving Hailan standing straight and unmoving like a really, really anxious rock.
“I will send the prince away, I have my means. You go with her now. She looks even more worried than you. Tell her I don’t plan on separating our lovebirds yet.”
“Mom!” Hailan gasps at that word. Turns out she really didn’t know her mother as well as she thought.
“Shh! Just go!” The queen pushes her upright, leaving her with a reassuring and encouraging smile.
Hailan bows to her mother and makes her way to the high commander.
-
Hailan walks up to Rufus’ panicked figure with quiet and elegant steps as she plays with a lilac sitting peacefully in its grass bed. “It’s me.”
Rufus exhales shakily, trying to pretend she didn’t get startled so much that her skin started shivering. She leaves the flower be and stands up straight, facing the princess. “So what’s going to happen now?”
“Your speech really helped, commander.” Hailan cocks her head to the side as she tries to suppress a shy smile.
“Get to the point, Lani.” Rufus grabs her shoulders and shakes her lightly, which makes the princess burst out laughing at the confusion on the other woman’s bewildered face.
“I’m free to do as I please. She will talk to my dad and find a way to push away that scumbag of a prince.” Hailan puts all her emphasis and accumulated anger in that word, then she recomposes herself. “And most importantly, I’m free to be seen with you. In every which way you want.”
The sparkle on Rufus’ eyes appears once again, her pallid complexion seems to have been relieved all of a sudden, which prompts her to lift a yelping Hailan off the ground and twirl her around like she’s made of cotton candy.
“You don’t know how happy you just made me right now.” Rufus exclaims as she drops her to the ground, still holding onto her waist to stabilize her balance.
Hailan lightly lifts herself on her tiptoes and whispers in Rufus’ ear: “You should thank the queen. She called us lovebirds.” Heat starts gathering on Rufus’ cheeks, but she would never admit that.
“Then let’s show her what real love is made up of, my bride.” The commander whispers back, slithering her hand down the small of Hailan’s back, then bending her neck down and meeting her rosy lips with her own in a gentle, yet romantic kiss.
“Should we spar in honor of our engagement?” Hailan whispers on Rufus’ lips in a wicked tone.
“What sparring are you talking about?”