Herald of Steel

"....you Alexander, you are like me. That is why I chose you over Farzah,"

Hearing such praise from someone like the Queen Mother, Alexander’s heart subconsciously stirred with pride. Like any man, he could not help but feel flattered, and a shy, humble smile touched his lips,

"You overpraise me, Your Highness. Pasha Farzah is a living legend, one whose exploits will be etched in the history books for all eternity. How can I..."

"Hahaha! And you are not, brat? Pfff... can you honestly say that?" Seelima cut into Alexander’s self criticism with a teasing grin, puffing up her rosy cheeks in a mocking, youthful gesture.

Then with a playful tilt on her flaming head, she pressed one of her long fingers onto her full, red lips and smirked,

"If Farzah earns a mention in the history books, then you, my dear brat, will certainly have entire volumes written about you. A slave, a foreign mercenary... a poor orphan with no name or background- suddenly rising to become the Pasha of Zanzan in a single stroke. Hehe... that alone makes you head and shoulders above Farzah."

"Tell me, which of these will the people find most impressive? Conqueror of the impregnable capital, the destroyer of Adhania’s greatest rival, or expanding ’our’ borders beyond the Mad Sea for the very first time in a millennium?"

Seelima’s eyes glinted a prideful gleam as she reminded Alexander of his own exploits, basking in his accomplishments like they were a reflection of her own. While the man’s heart bubbled with ever more pride, to the point his cheeks started to blush.

The Queen Mother further widened her grin in glee and swiftly stated with a regal nod of approval, "And ’we’ are not going to even mention all your new inventions. That would take another volume. All this you did while not even crossing your twenties. So tell ’us’, would it not be stranger if ’we’ had chosen Farzah over you? Hmph! Or did you truly think ’we’ would give ’our’ daughter to just anyone?"

The regal queen finished by imperiously crossing her arms across her chest, casting Alexander an almost mocking gaze. The gesture was clearly directed at the naked young maiden who was still obediently sitting by the man’s lap- having her swollen belly wrapped around his strong arms as her curvy butt firmly pressed against the man’s swollen hard on, stimulating him to no end.

The muscular hands stirred upon the reminder, sweeping over the warm, gentle curve and once again feeling that sinful protrusion. With all the heavy talks, Alexander had become temporarily distracted from this sensual delight.

So the Queen Mother’s urging just now rekindled his desire to partake in the meal laid before him. And this time, he felt himself far closer to agreeing. Seelima’s rhetoric had worked its way into him, her words seemingly sincere enough to ease much of his hesitation.

Alexander solemnly nodded in agreement, "Indeed, Pasha Farzah seems far more concerned with his family than with controlling the court. His mind appears to be occupied with too many things at once- his family, His Majesty, his allies, his retainers... a man at his age can only do so much. I cannot hardly fault him too... at his age, I too would wish to set my affairs in order. He is doing the best for himself."

The light in the Queen Mother’s eyes turned brighter and brighter with each sentence, her flaming hair shaking with great alacrity, "Indeed! Indeed! It is just a you said Lord Alexander, we do agree on a lot of things. Pasha Farzah is really too distracted to put his full attention here. I believe ’we’ will be a much better ally for you!"

Alexander’s dimmed eyes which were too busy ogling down at Princess Hellma’s cute breasts suddenly bulged wide open in shock! And he immediately looked up to give the Queen Mother a piercing look.

Separating the use of the royal ’we’ from the regular we tended to be somewhat confusing to the man. So initially Alexander thought what the Queen Mother meant by we was both he and her, i.e.- ’they’ would be good allies of the Pasha.

But re reading the sentence in his mind, Alexander quickly found that that interpretation made no grammatical sense. Neither did Seelima offer any further clarification- she seemed to clearly mean what she said.

"So, Your Highness... you intend to contest this position once Pasha Farzah returns from Matrak?" Alexander thus at last slowly curled his lips and asked for confirmation in a deep, deliberate tone.

Outwardly, he did not sound angry or offended, only curious. But internally, he quickly raised his guard way high up.

He was starting to guess the Queen Mother had great intentions for ’courting’ him- those beautiful globules hanging out there and the hot naked girl sitting on his lap pressing him with her soft, fluffy ass, were never free. They were payments to tear him away from Pasha Farzah and ally with the regal queen.

The realization caused the man to roll his eyes in shock and incredulity, ’My god! I just gave her the position. It has been literal minutes. And she is already scheming on how to keep it for herself? Is this woman just ambitious? Or is she ambition itself given human form?’

The Lord of Zanzan always knew Seelima was power hungry- he was never under any illusion regarding that fact. But it was finding the true extent of how much that was exactly... that was what really astounded him. It felt like he was finding new boundaries with her every day.

She had already gotten far more than she could have wished for, yet she still wanted more... the sheer greed on display was honestly eye opening.

On the opposing side however, the Queen Mother did not see anything wrong with it.

As already said, Seelima had a very ’go getter’ attitude due to her upbringing and felt no discomfort in extending her hands beyond reasonable reach- just to see if she could get anything in the off chance. Sure, she might get bitten sometimes, but from her experience, she found the rate of return far outweighed the risk.

And this was a fact especially true now, as Alexander had already given her so much. So what was the harm in asking for a bit more? Thus in a weird, contradicting way, the more he resisted Seelima’s gifts, the bolder and more ambitious the other party actually got!

And indeed, in keeping with Alexander’s new finding, Seelima’s soft, sensual gaze sharpened at the man’s query, an ambitious glimmer flashing past her eyes.

Of course that was her plan- how could she ever just willingly give it all away?

Now that she had reached this elusive spot, a spot no female had ever climbed to, if she were to just let it go, could she even hope to ever get it back? Would Lady Luck be ever so gracious twice in a row?

The answer in Seelima’s mind was a resounding ’no’.

Furthermore, the Queen Mother had to also account for her family’s current state when making the decision.

And she came to the mostly correct opinion, ’Snort! ’We’ cannot let this position fall back again to Farzah. It is not safe to even give it to any outsider. With us being in the state we are... it will be like inviting a fox into the chicken coup. We risk becoming completely puppets to them!’

’Hmmmp! That’s why I need to bring this boy to our side....no matter what it takes!’ Seelima thus at the end clenched her fists with fiery determination, steeling herself to tempt Alexander in any way possible. In her mind, nothing the man could ask was off limits, no act too depraved for her to perform... just to get in on her side.

"Haha... you jest, Alexander! How could I ever think to deprive Lord Farzah of his rightful position? I was simply saying that you should not only rely on him. Remember, ’we’ are also here. True Matrak is very strong, but... ’we’ are the royal family- the carriers of divine blood! There is nothing like ’us’."

Outwardly however Seelima’s limpid eyes revealed not a single trace of the truth. She instead put a completely different spin on her tale, breezily waving her dainty palms in a very sexy manner and then pleasantly offering,

"As a young family just starting out, Alexander this is especially important for you. Do not get holed up with only one family... try to spread your connections and make as many allies as possible. Given your... ’background’, ’we’ believe this is especially important."

"As the royal family, ’we’ dare say we are the best suited to help you in this. ’Our’ endorsement will go a long way in letting the Adhanian nobility accept you. So...hmm... have you heard of the divine ascension ceremony?" The Queen Mother ended her offer with a mysterious, trailing query, eyes dancing with sudden temptation.

"Yes! That is how you became part of the royal family, is that not Your Highness?" Alexander swiftly answered with a knowing nod. However, he kept his face straight and composed as he said, clearly showing he was not that interested.

This muted reaction quite disappointed Seelima. She had assumed the man would feel flattered to the bone at the sacred invitation.

’Hmmm, maybe does not know!’ Then quickly concluded that perhaps Alexander did not quite understand its full significance. Hence with a small tilt of her head, she tried to explain it.

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