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"If we visit all the rooms in the palace, you'll definitely regain some of your memories here."
Asra and the Countess smile at you beneath their masks, all three of your little group hiding behind an alcove for a short reprieve from Nadia's needy citizens. Not far from you, Julian is dancing raucously on a table as a small,chubby courtier pulls sandwiches away from his rowdy feet. Music fills the air and the senses as everyone is partying too hard to care that a dead man is raving it up in their midst.
The masquerade is in full swing; expensive liquor flows from every passing faucet and writhing, shimmering bodies obscure your sight. No one seems to recognize you or even notice that you are there. You should probably take this chance to explore as much of the palace as you can and perhaps regain your missing memories. There was still over half of the palace to scour through.
Just as you were about to voice this to Asra, Julian's table breaks with a splintering crash and sends the rowdy doctor flying through the air. The crowd whoops and cheers; someone catches the rambunctious doctor as the servants bustle in to clean up the spilled food. One of the courtiers- you believe her name was Volta?- starts screeching and convulsing her arms madly, contributing to the utter chaos.
"I'm afraid I've been neglecting my duties for far too long." Nadia mutters as she peers out at the scene, where Volta is steadily escalating from arm-shaking to Julian-throttling, screaming for the doctor to stay still as she chases him around the floor. The Countess brushes off her clothes and removes her mask, revealing flawlessly applied powder and intricate hair.
“Would you come with me, Asra? I need you to help subdue the good doctor.” Nadia takes Asra’s arm nudges him away from you. He nods in assent and smiles apologetically in your direction.
"I'll follow you later." Your master calls out at you as the Countess leads him into the rowdy crowd. They’re swallowed up by the throng in the blink of an eye, leaving you to wander alone out the room and into the mysterious halls of the palace.
You explore the rooms of the palace, wading through throngs of passerbys and servants bustling with food piled high on their trays. A bubble room, a paint room, a room enchanted with ice….Nothing seems familiar so far. You wonder if all of this was for naught, feet starting to ache from constant meandering. How is Asra going to find you in this enormous castle?
As you turn a corner, a sweet and cloying scent catches your attention. You follow it, passing through a marble archway decorated with rubies and into an outdoor walkway. Here, the crowd thins and the air is heavy with incense. A winding stone pathway divides a grassy lawn, with smaller paths leading from it to two separate buildings on either side. On your left was a dark and evidently deserted dome made of mosaic glass. The one on your right leads back into a different area of the palace, sectioned into small alcoves with their entrances covered by heavy red curtains. You approach it and hear carnal sounds echoing from within, cheeks flaming as you realize what you've walked into.
A handsome couple whisk past you, smelling of expensive liquor and excitement. They eye you quite obviously before slipping behind a curtain into a vacant room. A glaring invitation. Your mouth feels dry. You can't remember if you've ever done anything like that before. Encounters, past lovers... you can't recall a thing.
You have no memory of having even kissed anyone in your life. But maybe you have? You could have been a absolute player and there was no way to know. Still, you haven’t recalled any memories in here yet,so you assume you must have been quite chaste. You spend some time walking awkwardly around the hall, trying to remember something- anything. The almost palpable perfume that hung in the air was giving you a headache, and in an attempt to escape the scent, you open the first set of stone doors you pass, hoping that it lead outside. Asra was probably searching for you, anyways. You consider going back to Julian’s party room.
The stone doors reveal a large and lavish room, dark save for the moonlight spilling in from several high windows. Crystal chandeliers hung from the lofty ceilings, unlit but still magnificent in their craftsmanship. An enormous canopy bed stretched from one dusty, mahogany wardrobe to another. It appears that you have stumbled into one of the many old guest bedrooms in the palace.
You breath in the thankfully incense-free air. Many parts of the palace used in previous masquerades have been closed off to the public. Judging from the neglect of the furniture and lights, you assume this must be one of them.
As your shiny shoes clack on the marble floor, the sweet and cloying taste once again builds at the back of your throat. A memory? You manage to lock the doors before the vision overtakes you, and the past floods your senses.
A handsome man with golden hair is pulling you forward, his metal fingers clasped around your wrist. It's the same hall you were passing through, but the carpet is fresh and the air is colder. The lewd moans and smacks coming from the alcoves is gone, replaced with your heavy breathing and your kidnapper's insistent demands.
"Come on... it's not very far.."
You feel yourself drag your feet back, resisting his pull. "This is taking too long. I need to go back..."
There is faint music wafting in from outside, where you can hear people laughing and cheers being hollered every minute. Your outfit is warm and soft, clearly meant for cooler weather and cooler men.
"You said you needed help warding a room from a prankster that was disrupting the party, Count Lucio." You hear yourself say, voice lower and more confident than you remember. “I hope for your sake you were telling the truth.”
The man laughs and spins you around, tugging you flush to his chest. He lowers his face to the junction between your neck and your shoulders, mouth hot through the fabric. You put your hands on his head and try to push him away, but he takes your fingers in his mouth instead. His tongue is heated as it slides lasciviously along the pads of your fingers. Teeth scrapes along your nails, neatly trimmed for the Masquerade. You shudder.
"Stop." You gasp, wrenching your hand away, dripping wet. "I need to get back to As-"
Lucio covers your mouth with his, swallowing up your words in his endless hunger. You protest, recoiling back but he fists your hair and presses you closer, stealing away your breath as his tongue dives down your throat. When the both of you come up for air, you're gasping in hard, fast puffs of air.
He cups your face with both of his hands, grinning with the attitude of one used to having his way. Lucio trails his fingers over your cheeks and down to your hips, under the layers of translucent fabrics, sliding sensually along your skin and swerving around to clench your firm cheeks. How dare he?
"Don't say that name when you're with me." Lucio breathes at you, emphasizing 'name' with a harsh squeeze. You're panting, hands on his chest to keep him some distance away. Your hair, let down and styled for the party, is mussed up and sticking to your face from sweat.
"You- you can't just steal me away from a party," You grit harshly, "We should go back out and- and enjoy your birthday celebration."
In response, Lucio slides his arms around you and picks you up, cradling you to his chest like a treasure. "Why should I? I've got everything I want to enjoy right here."
A self-assured smile curls on his lips, eyes taunting you, daring you to resist. Dark annoyance bubbles in your chest. Breath. Breath. Remember what Asra told you about dealing with this manchild.
Passing voices from outside the high windows reminds you that you’re in a very public hall in a palace full of people, and thus you cannot murder Lucio without leaving ample evidence. His smug face, that shit-eating grin… the vapid sense of entitlement...you just don’t have enough self-control to restrain yourself completely. You ball your hand into a fist, pushing him away.
Your knuckles spark when you pummel his face.
His head snaps to the left before he turns back to you, blood spilling from his lip and cheeks lightly singed. You scamper away from him, putting space between the two of you. Lucio is very lucky you have acute control over your magic. A lesser magician might have roasted him to death by accident.
“I’m not letting you use me to get revenge on Asra. Grow up, Lucio.”
Lucio glares at you, red on his lips. "Come now, magician, don't spoil your own first Masquerade like this."
You ignore him, wiping the (sweet) trace of him from your mouth with the back of your hand. The Count was getting impatient, and you were running out of ways to keep rejecting him. Both of you are standing in a hallway with a dead end, and Lucio was blocking the only exit. As you look out the open windows and ponder jumping out, you fail to notice him pulling out a tile from the wall and revealing a lever.
You look back to the count just in time to watch him activate the hidden mechanism and metal bars fall, blocking the lone door and windows with a heavy thud as final as your escape from the count's clutches. Has he been planning to corner you all this time? Your fingertips spark again with the beginnings of a fire. You look away from him in disgust.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been plotting to-”
Lucio is on you, overwhelmingly strong hands firm on your chest, pushing you through a set of heavy stone doors on the side of the hall and into a luxurious, dim bedroom. Candles light the chamber, bathing the count in an intimate glow. Lucio swings you around to the bed, where you slam shoulderfirst into a bedpost, before scrambling to get away from the offending furniture. The count ignores you, both of you at opposite sides of the bed. Unless you burn him, he’s at an overwhelming advantage in terms of physical strength and combat experience. You summon more fire to your fingers, but stumble on the carpeted fur and slipped backwards, right on to the silky sheets. As you quickly recover, you hear the sound of a porcelain bottle being opened, its contents gurgling as Lucio brings it to his mouth.
You fling a trail of fire at him, sure that it would at least singe his body and release you from this travesty. Lucio brings up his arm sharply to block it. The razing fire makes contact, but no flames catch. The count smiles at you, close mouthed. You've forgotten. His arm is made of metal.
Lucio dives at you, pushing you back on the mattress and slotting your mouths together. He forces a liquid down your tongue, sweet and cloying. It can't be anything good. His hands press your wrists firmly onto the bed, but you could still conjure sparks if you wanted to. You could attack the count again, burn him to a crisp. Leave nothing of him but ashes.
You don't.
The sheets smell like roses and musk, filling up your nostrils. A haze settles on your mind. Suddenly, every one of your senses are heightened, tingling. As your muscles involuntarily relax and you find newfound difficulty in moving, Lucio tears off your costume like a savage, metal claw ripping through fabric but taking care not to scratch your skin. You shift uncomfortably, bare under his gaze. The count drinks in the sight of your skin like ambrosia, the sweetness of which is unforgettable. He trails his human hand down your lightly muscled chest, nodding in approval. His hand burns like an ember on your flushed skin.
"You're the wrong nature, but you're exactly my type."
He tweaks a nipple, and your back arches off the bed, pleasure sudden and intense. You turn and bury your face in the pillow, shame and arousal painting a red picture on your cheeks.
He mouths a trail down from your cheeks to your sternum, latching on to a hard nipple. As Lucio tongues it, he looks up at you, lashes low and eyes bright. His hair is just as ruined as yours, sticking up in all directions and lightly singed where you attacked him with fire.
"Say my name." Lucio's voice is gravelly and husky, like his throat is parched and thirsty. .
You glare down at him, making eye contact with the count nibbling on your body like the most delicious dessert he's ever tasted.
" Asra. "
Lucio bites down, and you cover your mouth with both hands, screaming. It hurt so, so good. His fingers digging into your hips, the heat pooling down in your belly. Why was everything feeling amazing?
"Dr-ug.." you grit through your teeth. The more time passes, the more muddled your senses become. Something wet is on your chin; you wipe it with a hand. Drool. You're drooling like a dog.
"Hm? What was that, o powerful magician?" Lucio grins roguishly, licking a strip up and over your red, abused nipples. The bitemark he left will hurt for days.
"Yo-u drugged me.."
The count gives you a saccharine smile in response, drinking in the sight of you lying beneath him, helpless with an artificial need.
“Can’t cast a spell on me? You’ve no idea how hard it was to find an aphrodisiac that can suppress your witchcraft.”
You watch him sit up and shed his clothes, jewelry and furs flung carelessly to the floor. Your eyes cannot help but be fixated by the finely honed physique being revealed to you layer by layer, toned muscle writhing sensuously in the candlelight. What would it feel like to have all that power and passion on you,… in you?
Lucio manhandles you up the bed, scooting forward until your legs are hanging on either side of his hips. When you try to sit up, he pushes you down on your back again. The count spreads your trembling thighs, forcing them up and over to the headboard. Staring at the ceiling, you are caught off guard when he latches his teeth on your inner knees, licking and sucking his way up to where you need him most. You’re so aroused your entire body is trembling, strung like a coil.
You peer at him from behind your dangling legs. Lucio dips his fingers in some sort of cool gel, flipping the jar over to pour it over your heat. His fingers- his human fingers, spread you open, before plunging in without warning. The tight heat inside your oversensitive body explodes immediately and you orgasm, thighs clenching before he forces them open again.
" Oh , I like that sloppy expression on your face."
White hot pleasure runs up and down your body like electricity. You couldn't summon a spark, couldn’t fight him now even if you wanted to.
Lucio's relentless, twisting and spreading his fingers with the savage craving for you he’s amassed over years. You bite your lips to stop the moans and screams from escaping. How can you still be so ready despite climaxing not even a minute ago? As you twist and turn, hands clenching the sheets, Lucio grabs the porcelain bottle and looks at you with a glint in his eyes.
"The effectiveness of this particular aphrodisiac is enhanced by its dose.. and the administered location."
Your addled brain struggles to comprehend his words. You're not sure if you’re capable of thinking right now. Lucio takes another swig of the drug and lowers his face between your legs. You realize what he intends to do.
"W-wait," You try to sit up and squirm away, but it's too late. The count has his mouth latched on to your opening, tongue twisting and plunging inside you. You can feel the aphrodisiac slosh against your walls. Lucio’s closed his eyes, dedicated to tasting you. His face is pressed against your entrance, eyelashes fluttering, lube and saliva smeared all over. The vision hits you like a train and knocks the breath from your lungs.
You can no longer resist the instinct to lock your legs behind his head and grind upwards, against that handsome bastard face. If the count is bothered by your thighs gripping his head, he gives no indication. When he sucks hard over your throbbing entrance, you climax again, eyes rolling back, mouth open and gasping. Lucio’s face was going to be a mess. You try to cover the embarrassing moans by muffling yourself with one hand as Lucio rubs his palms soothingly up and down your thighs. You relax the iron grip your legs had him in.
He comes up for air, breath heavy and hot. Lucio spots you with a hand covering your face and reaches out to strongly nudge it away. He thumbs your abused, bitten lips. His cheeks and chin looked as sticky as you’d expected, glistening with your fluids in the dim light.
"Let me hear you. Cry my name." The count is flushed and burning up. You're sure he's ingested some of what he's given you.
"No." You glare at Lucio and shove his head back down between your shaking legs, where he belongs. The count follows surprisingly obediently, lips curved in a smile against your heat and hands on either sides of your spread legs, pressing into the sheets…...
…...You come back to the present with a gasp.
Without realizing it, you’ve slid down to the floor, body leaning heavily against the locked stone doors. The silver moonlight shining through the windows was a stark contrast to the warm candlelight you remember. You shiver despite the warm temperature. Were you and Lucio..? Did you have something with the count? No.. no you didn’t seem to want anything to do with him in the memory. That heat you felt- it must have been the aphrodisiac.
You get up from the floor and approach the bed, cautious. There appeared to be furniture tucked against the wall, covered with a black fabric to protect it from dust. You pull the covering off and it falls to the ground with a soft rustle.
A full length mirror.
It spans the wall from floor to ceiling, reflecting your shocked face and flushed cheeks. You feel a tugging sensation in your mind. Another memory. This time you hurry backwards onto the bed before the memory takes over….
"Ye-Yes ple-ase!" Your throat is raw from screaming. Moans and whimpers slip from you without permission. Lucio's got his hand in your hair, pulling your head backwards as he slams into you from behind. Your legs and arms tremble as they struggle to hold your weight against the thrashing of the count.
"Look at that. Vesuvia's honorable, duty-obsessed magician is begging to be fucked like a dog."
You follow his gaze and to your horror, a large mirror spans half the wall, leaving no detail to imagination. Your hair is in tangles, clinging to your face from being pulled and abused by the count. Your head sinks into the bed, ass sticking straight up getting pounded and fingers tearing through the pillow you've got your face buried in. You look absolutely wrecked.
Lucio slaps your firm cheeks harshly as he pounds you, pushing you up the bed from the force of his thrusts, before pulling on your shoulders and reeling you back in. Your skin melts under his touch. Every time the head of his cock hits deep inside you, your eyes roll a little, sparks flying off inside your brain. Suddenly, he moves his arm away from your torso and up to your throat, trapping you in a barbaric elbow chokehold.
"Come on, slut. Show me you can scream without air."
The bed creaks miserably as he spears you as deep and hard as humanly possible. Lucio seems to know exactly how deep inside you ache for him, purposefully aiming his thrusts against your most sensitive spots. The heat inside your belly reaches a fever pitch and you come till black spots fill your vision, a keening sound of pleasure escaping from your throat as you asphyxiate. Lucio speeds up, chasing his own release as he savors your erotic expressions in the mirror, feeling your walls constrict around him.
He bites your collar, body tense and trembling as he fills you.You're flooded to the brim with his seed and it almost makes you climax again. When he releases you from the choke, you gulp in deep swallows of incensed air and collapse onto the now filthy sheets. You can’t remember how many times you’ve orgasmed so far. Your short-circuited brain is a mess of sensations. The slicked slide of sweat, the sweet aches on and inside you….Lucio’s got his human fingers inside you again, spreading you open to take in the lewd sight of his seed dripping from your most intimate place. You haven’t had a moment to rest.
“I always knew you were kinky in bed.” Lucio purrs at you. “You’re hiding a lot under that cold, honorable persona, aren’t you? Does Asra know?”
You turn your face away in shame, batting off his hands and rolling over to face away from him. His release flows languidly out of you. It’s not your fault, you tell yourself. You were drugged. Lucio follows you, pressing soft kisses to your neck. The count’s member pokes you in the thigh, not softened by the release in the slightest.
He chuckles lowly, ribcage vibrating against your back. You think of all the times you made fun of him for being debauched and perverted, obsessed with earthly pleasures and silly games. Too vapid to bother with. Too dumb to be fun.
Or so you thought.
You twist around to face him, your hand on his wrist.
If he wants to start this game, you’ll show him what playing with fire feels like.
"Hah- .." Your lips aren't responding to your brain. Lucio slows down and leans in, closer to your face. You can feel the wet semen drip out of your body. The drug is still coursing through your veins. Neither of you are close to done.
"What was that? You can still talk?" The count peppers soft kisses to your shoulder, a stark contrast to his brutal tendencies. Your throat will be purple come morning. He noses through your long hair, breathing in your scent like oxygen. You swallow, trying to remember words and how to use them.
"I-.. sai-d...H-arder.."
Lucio is still for a second, your words registering in his mind. Then, his fingers tighten around your shoulders. He embraces your body and rolls, flipping the both of you over until you are sitting on him while the count lounges in the pillows.
"Go on, magician. Show me what you want."
How long have you been denying yourself this? Your eyes trail from his lashes to his swollen lips, down to his chest littered with hickeys and bruises. Marks to claim what was yours. You can’t remember a time anymore when you didn’t secretly want to ravish this insufferable man.
As Lucio sits silently, you crawl farther onto his lap and press a kiss to his lips, glide your fingers to the nape of his neck, deepening your connection until every breath is nothing but him. His muscles undulate beneath you. You want your name to burn on his skin for days.
You sit up, guiding his cock back to your heat before dropping straight down. You and Lucio both moan and shudder at the same time. The fire inside you has roared itself into an inferno. The aphrodisiac may not be addictive, but Lucio's body was. You set a brutal pace akin to the pounding he gave you before.
"Wait-" Lucio gasps, "it's not a pogo stic-"
You slap him across the same cheek bruised from the punch you threw before. Lucio's head whips to the left once again. His eyes are wide, for once. You wish he had longer hair so you could yank it the way he did to you in the mirror. Whatever. You’ll settle with scratching your nails across his toned chest, leaving red stinging marks in their wake. Lucio gapes at you before his face stretches into the widest smile you've ever seen on him.
"You're so exquisite like this."
You moan at a particularly good angle and Lucio takes advantage of the moment to roll you over again. He traps you under his mass and between his arms, face so close you feel his golden hair spilling on your forehead. The count kisses you sweetly, drinking you in like exotic wine. You bring your hands up to his broad shoulders, poised to decorate his back with scratches to match the front. Lucio moves slowly, surprisingly gentle. Your mouths barely detach from each other's the entire time.
He touches his forehead to yours, staring into your eyes as he picks up the pace.
You moan, closing your eyes and turning your head away against the pillow. Your toes curls as he falls back into his punishing pace, sinking you into the soft mattress each time he thrusts in.
The bedframe creaks quietly as he buries himself within you. There’s a drunk pounding in your ear, a ringing that cries his name. You wanted him so fucking bad. Before you realize what you’re doing-
“Lucio..” You whisper in his ears, pressed cheek to cheek. Lucio’s pace stutters. His eyes widen before he looks down at you strangely, hair mussed and lips bitten. You still. The count trails a finger up your calves, feather light and sensual. You shudder in response.
“Say it again.” He rasps, eyes searching yours with a new light.
The count holds onto you with an unfamiliar desperation.
“Lucio,” you sigh breathily.
He groans deeply, before fisting your hair and pulling you up for another grinding kiss. His tongue runs over your lips, before sensually delving in to swirl around yours. His arms are like iron on either side of you, caging you in as he resumes the rough rhythm you had before.
You can't do anything but blabber and dig your fingers into his shoulders as he pounds into you, mouth lathering on and around your collarbone. He has two hands holding on to your wrists, pressing them against the pillow next to your head. You’re flushed from head to toe, lost in ecstasy.
Lucio always finishes inside, sometimes pulling out to smack his cock on your abused cheeks before plunging back in. Everytime he does so, cum bubbles and overflow from inside you. You're way past the point of feeling humiliated.
"Maybe I should keep you in here, make you my breeding tool." Lucio breathes, "I'll fuck you everyday till you pop out babies for me."
Your cheeks buzzes at the idea. He’s so distasteful, but you get hotter thinking of the idea. "Th-at's mmm..not.. phy-sicall y likel-"
He shuts you up with a deep kiss, a hand cradled under your head. You’re pressed so close, limbs and tongues entangled. How did you live all this time never knowing your heart could feel so aflamed? Magic unwittingly gathers at your fingertips. The count grunts in pain as your fingers heat up on his skin, singeing fine hairs as you lose control. He’s got his teeth nibbling on you again. You think of him dressing in the morning, covering up hand-shaped burns with makeup and clothes.
Burns made by you.
If you can do magic, the drug must be wearing off. You still want him as badly as you did, intoxicated.
As Lucio embraces you for the final time, your consciousness falters. He speaks, but you hear only disjointed words and sounds. “..a birthday… mine…. “
Your forehead falls onto his shoulder, and it’s the last sensation you can recall.
…..
You open your eyes.
You’re sprawled on the dusty sheets collapsed and lost in a faded memory. The bed is musty and the candles are dark. Three years ago… on this very mattress…. You’re not sure how to feel about this discovery. Cheeks flushed, you push yourself up on shaky arms before another memory gently hazes over your senses.
…...
You’re curled up on something soft and warm. A finger trails along your cheek, a wet cloth wipes over your close eyelids and bruised body. You murmur incoherently, exhaustion pulling you insistenly back into slumber. A gentle hand is combing through your hair.
“...Asra?”
You mumble against the sheets. The fingers playing with your bangs still. As you snuggle deeper into the pillow, the weight shifts on the bed and you hear the clack of hard soles on carpet, fading as it moves further away...
…..
You’re still in the same position on the sheets when you come back to reality. The memory must have lasted mere seconds. Speaking of time.. Asra and the rest of your friends must be worried sick, searching for you. You look through one of the high windows.
The moon is high in the sky. You’re late.
Dropping your feet down on the dusty carpet, you silently slip away from the bed and to the heavy stone doors. Thoughts, sensations, memories of the count swim in your head. Will you ever be able to look at those portraits on the walls the same way again? You’re not sure you can even make eye contact with Asra or Nadia right now.
There are still so many questions on the tip of your tongue.
No matter.
You live in the present now. It won’t matter what happened in the past when you smile at your friends and apologize for disappearing.
And if you can feel Lucio’s phantom touches as you hold your master’s hand on the dancefloor, well.
You simply won’t mention it.