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Reila paced back and forth within her luxurious bedchambers. Several days of her mother's fury exhausted everyone in the palace, but her most of all. Today, she wore no illusion, not even subtle changes to accentuate her natural features. She had common gray fur with auburn accents on her snout and shoulders, black outlining her ears and lips. Pretty, but not special, at least as far as her own vanity was concerned.

Today she wore a traditional assassin's garb. Dark red fabric clung to her body, offering few places for an attacker to grab, just loose enough in all the right places to to not restrict her movement. A black vrasa crossed her forearm, a pair of corded silk ribbons tied around her wrist that attached to her sleeve just above the elbow. The ends tucked into the sleeve to keep it secure, but the ribbons could easily pull free and be used to strangle someone.

Today, she was an executioner.

Reila checked herself once more in the mirror, the black markings that ran from the corners of her eyes to the tip of her snout only emphasized the grim inevitability in her expression. She didn't flinch when someone knocked on the large wooden doors of her chambers - a scared knock, the first too quite, the second too loud in compensation, the third following after a long pause, then silence. It was surprising when someone reported to their own execution. No one had ever made it easy for her before.

The trembling vixen standing outside Reila's chambers kept her eyes on the ground and said nothing. She was beautiful. Crisp white fur covered her petite figure. Complex patterns of sinuous black lines accentuated her slim muzzle and large ears, flowed across her shoulders like air flowing over the back of a falcon. Slashes down the left side of her sleek gray dress showed off the brilliant white fur beneath. If she attended a banquet looking as she did, she'd have a suitor by her side before she sat down. The tendons stood out on the backs of her paws, clasped desperately in front of her.

Reila stated the other woman's name as a formality. "Aesa."

She said nothing in reply, and Reila motioned her inside. To Aesa's credit, she strode confidently into the center of the room and waited with her back to Reila. It could have been quick.

"The rest of you can go." Reila stood patiently beside the open door. Aesa's shoulders stiffened, but she didn't move. Neither of them could be sure, and perhaps Aesa hadn't considered. Knowing Reila's mother, at least two invisible assassins had accompanied Aesa, and who knew how many guarded Reila's rooms prior. Unless they had very specific orders to watch, they would leave at her command. She waited several minutes before closing the door. It probably felt far longer to the poor girl waiting to die.

Aesa panted in choked breaths but otherwise held her composure well, eyes downcast. Very few actually presented themselves for execution. Those who did usually brought a weapon. Reila led the other woman into her bedchambers.

Oil lamps burned at opposing sides of the large chambers, casting a wan illumination. The massive window at the far end of the room opened to the black of night. A full moon cast a beam of pure white light onto the stone floor.

"Do you know why you're here?" Reila asked.

Aesa grit her teeth, breath hissing between bared fangs, steeling herself to speak. "My mother," she finally forced out.

"True." Reila took a step closer. "But why you are here specifically?"

Aesa's heavy breathing grew ragged. "I submit myself to the Empress' will."

Reila drew closer. "Do you have any weapons on you?"

For the first time, Aesa looked up at her. Unspilled tears reflected moonlight in Aesa's sky blue eyes. "Of course not," she whispered. "I-I am a loyal subject."

Reila stepped within striking distance of even a very small blade. Poison wasn't uncommon. "So am I." Aesa's dress offered few places to conceal anything beneath its clinging fit, and Reila leaned into her shoulder. "They would still pay in blood for taking my life."

Reila had watched far harder criminals shatter when faced with their imminent death. It would be such a shame to snuff out this potential. Just to be sure, Reila searched Aesa, starting with the small of her back.

Aesa flinched away from Reila's touch, but her paws remained fixed in place. Reila swept a deft touch carefully across the small of Aesa's back, her hips, her bosom. She knelt behind Aesa and followed silken fur up her thighs to check beneath the narrow hem of her short dress. Such beauty. She couldn't be any older than Reila herself.

When Reila stood, she discreetly tugged her vrasa to release the silk cords. Thick knots at the free ends offered something to grip. "I'm sorry, Aesa."

An illusion masked the motion until Reila had the cords wrapped around Aesa's throat. A sacred aura emanated from the brutal silence of it. Aesa thrashed on instinct but had clearly never trained to fight a vrasa. Her claws scrambled for purchase on the smooth stone floor, finding none. But even as her jaws worked, fangs snarling, not a sound came from her throat.

Reila grit her teeth from the effort. She owed it to Aesa. The tighter she held, the quicker it would be over. Their stance placed Reila's muzzle right up against Aesa's ear.

"I know you're innocent," Reila growled.

Aesa's violent struggle faltered. A sliver of awareness clung to hope beneath instinctual panic. Her paws lifted to the vrasa around her throat, but as her tiny claws reached the corded silk, her hands dropped back to her side in acceptance.

"Be reborn among moths." Reila held the vrasa tight until Aesa hung by the limp weight of her own body, then for several seconds longer. Reila gently laid Aesa on her side in the moonlight. It only took a moment for the sound of ragged breathing to return to Aesa's lips.

Aesa's ghostly fur glowed in the moonlight. Reila sat on her bed and waited. It didn't take long to regain consciousness after being choked out. One of her legs twitched, then her entire body. She wept before opening her eyes, but once Aesa pushed herself shakily on all fours, her quiet sobs became a feral scream of tormented rage. Spittle flecked from her bared fangs, claws scraping the stone floor.

Aesa panted desperately, spitting before turning malevolent blue eyes on Reila. "Why am I alive?" Her eyes squeezed shut. Then almost coherently she added in a sickened tone, "I'm going to throw up."

Reila casually waved towards the far wall, and Aesa scrambled on all fours and dove towards the chamber pot before vomiting into it. An unhinged mixture of sobs and crazed laughter echoed from the vessel between far less pleasant sounds.

No one ever woke after Reila unset her vrasa. She watched in curious interest. Trauma had strange and unpredictable effects on people. Would Aesa break, try to kill Reila, or would her symbolic death forge something far more beautiful and deadly?

Aesa nearly overturned the chamber pot as she struggled to her feet, then rushed to the wash basin and gulped down stale if fortunately clean water. She panted on the verge of hyperventilating. Water streamed from her muzzle. After fighting to regain a semblance of control, Aesa turned to Reila and staggered across the room.

She collapsed at Reila's feet. "Why?"

"I don't know." Reila studied her bowed head and drooping ears. "My mother will be furious. She may even try to kill you again." That news didn't get a reaction. "Do you know my brother?"

Aesa shook for a moment and buried her face in her paws before speaking. "The Prince? I- I know of him, of course."

"Have you ever spoke?"

Aesa's claws furrowed her own fur, palms kneading her eyes. "Once, I think? At a banquet?"

"Did anything more happen? Did he breed you?"

A laugh on the edge of breakdown echoed through the bedchamber. "Of course not."

Reila leaned in closer. "Did he purse interest in you? Make advances?"

"No!" Aesa clawed at her face, shaking near to the point of convulsion, laughing. "I'm nobody. My family isn't important. I'm so far on the fringes of nobility that I may as well be dead. The Prince wouldn't bother to laugh at such a one-sided proposal."

Reila tilted her head in consideration and decided to stop before Aesa unwound entirely. "You clearly left an impression. He argued for your amnesty, said he had proof of your innocence. The Empress didn't care. She ordered me to kill you and deliver your corpse to the dungeons. Make it profane, I think were her words, a display for your mother. He then came to me with the same plea - spare you. Why?"

Puffy blue eyes finally rose to meet Reila's. A combination of water and tears matted Aesa's muzzle, parted in surprise. "I have no idea," Aesa whispered.

Reila sighed. "Well, you can thank him for sparing your life. I had planned to carry out my mother's orders."

That provoked a shudder and a choked noise. Aesa hugged herself. "What now?"

"Your line has already been struck from the register and exiled. Perhaps Mother will order you killed a second time, perhaps not. She won't reinstate you."

Little of what Aesa thought about the situation showed on her face. How would someone planning to overthrow an empire not utilize such an asset, especially one's own daughter? What events forged this creature? Reila did believe Aesa's ignorance of the plot.

Reila slid from her bed to join Aesa on her knees. The vrasa hung free, and Aesa's gaze followed the dangling black silk. She flinched when Reila cupped her damp muzzle but didn't pull away. Reila lifted her gaze.

"If you wish, you may stay here as my personal attendant." Reila attempted a comforting smile, something her position rarely called for. "Or I can get you out of the city. From there, you would be on your own."

Aesa's eyes widened. Attendants were often a ceremonial position. One would typically rank very highly in court.

"Yes." Ambition burned behind Aesa's vivid blue eyes, even now.

What a delightful little creature, and all thanks to Tezet. Reila stroked her cheek. "Good. Now I want you to be very honest with me. I will not hold your answers against you, but lie to me-" Reila tightened her fingers around Aesa's muzzle. "Do you understand?"

Aesa trembled but nodded, unable to speak with Reila holding her jaws shut.

"Are you still loyal to the empire." Reila released her hold.

"Yes," Aesa whispered almost immediately.

Reila brushed the back of her paw along Aesa's muzzle. "Will you be loyal to me?"

"Yes."

"If you are forced to choose between the empire and me, where does your ultimate loyalty lie?" Reila held her face passive, offering no hint as to what answer she preferred.

Aesa swallowed hard but still choked at her first attempt to answer. "The truth?"

"Of course."

"You." Aesa unflinchingly met Reila's own eyes. "You are the empire."

That rabid sense of power, of divine capacity coursed through Reila. Euphoria and lust and aggression demanded action, to realize her exceptional purpose upon the world. She cupped Aesa's face tightly between her paws, desperate to remain grounded. Now wasn't the time. Not yet.

"Providence has brought us together, my precious moth." Reila ran her paws through Aesa's silken white fur, brilliant beneath the moon's sight. Then she seized Aesa in a violent embrace. "I have seen the potential in you." Her claws bit into the back of Aesa's scalp and shoulders until the faint metallic sting of blood scented the air. Aesa didn't make a sound of protest. "You are mine, little moth. No one will ever take you from me."

The warmth of tears leaked into Reila's shoulder. They embraced a long time, until Aesa cried herself out, and Reila could still the wild creature that lurked within her soul. It had almost slipped out, and she had no idea what would happen when it did. Something incredible.

When Reila felt she could trust her own mind again, exhaustion weighed upon her limbs, and Aesa sagged in her arms. She relaxed her hold.

"We should sleep," Reila whispered into Aesa's ear, then stood. The other girl murmured agreement, and Reila left her to change into a gossamer night shift behind the dressing screen. It took time to loosen the knots on her vrasa, and when she returned, Aesa swayed on her feet, picking despondently at the hem of her dress.

"While it does look fetching, I can't imagine it will be comfortable to sleep in." Reila's shift barely reached past her hips, and the sheer silk turned translucent in the moonlight.

"This is all I have left," Aesa mumbled. The tone in her voice reached far beyond simply clothing. She didn't notice Reila approach.

"The night is warm. We can find you something proper tomorrow." Reila of course had clothing that would fit Aesa, but what was the fun in that? Aesa didn't look up until Reila placed a gentle touch on her shoulder. Aesa's eyes went as wide as the moon. She tried to look away, but Reila caught her chin. "Do I have to help my own attendant undress?"

Aesa's delicate muzzle trembled, lips moving, but no sound came out. Reila leaned in to touch her snout to Aesa's. Her hand brushed past Aesa's throat on the way to the back of her head. Aesa froze, not even daring to breathe.

Reila embraced Aesa, clutched her small body tight and bit her hard on the ear. Not even that earned a response, so she lowered her hands to Aesa's thighs and curled her claws carefully beneath the clinging dress and lifted.

Aesa raised her arms automatically, and that motion restarted her chest. She stumbled away from Reila when the dress pulled free of her head. Her gorgeous snow white fur glowed in the moonlight, intense blue eyes the only shock of color on her. Sleek black accents flowed down her hips and belly. Thin bands outlined her womb and drew the gaze between her slender thighs. Jealousy at Aesa's beauty warred with the pride that she belonged to Reila now, more precious than any jewel.

Aesa shyly covered herself and lowered her eyes. "I can sleep on the floor," she muttered.

"Of course not." Reila brushed Aesa's arms aside to bare her body. Aesa whimpered but didn't resist. "My bed is more than large enough. Come. Let us sleep."

Reila turned her back and led the way to a large four poster bed. A shroud of filmy silks encompassed a bed large enough for even the most ambitious orgy, and Reila climbed into the luxurious pile of satin and cashmere on all fours. Her tail twitched up in invitation. When she finally settled herself, Aesa remained watching from the moonlight.

"Come," Reila beckoned. Eventually Aesa obeyed.

Her delicate white paw flinched away from the silks, but she managed to open a small entry and clamber awkwardly inside. Reila wriggled underneath the blankets to give Aesa a moment of feigned privacy. She held the covers up in invitation, but Aesa settled herself at the very edge of the massive bed.

Reila let her be. "Good night, little moth."

A calm silence fell over the room, and Reila found herself struggling to remain awake. The fire of adrenaline and wild fervor abandoned her. Reila easily fell asleep to the quiet sounds of muffled weeping.