Back to Chapter 22
Chapter 23 � Homecoming
Cecilia
Sanchez and Maria Elena Rodriguez-Torres quietly stared out through the
van�s windows as the line of lights in the distance marking the edge of
Dan�bikt M�skt grew brighter. Within a few minutes individual buildings
came into view; then suddenly the vehicle passed the first houses lining
the city�s edge. The van turned onto a street of nicer residences and
passed a yellow sign that marked the edge of the Dan�bikt M�skt
collar-zone. A few meters beyond was the house where Vladim Dukov had
lived before he was Prime Minister, and where his son Vladik now lived
with his wife and two sons.
The van turned from the side street onto a tree-lined boulevard leading
towards the city center, but then veered to the northeast to go towards
the University District. Soon the part of the city most familiar to
Cecilia and Maria Elena came into view, a section of houses built around
1910 that were almost completely hidden by large trees. A short distance
beyond lay the university, but the van�s driver was not taking them that
far.
During the entire trip neither Maria Elena nor Cecilia felt inclined to
talk. Now that she had some rest, Cecilia was awake enough to feel the
painful sores covering her feet and to fret about what would happen when
Victor and her nephew Pedro saw her naked and collared. As for Maria
Elena, the momentary happiness she felt upon leaving the Royal Residence
had faded back into emotional numbness and a fatigue that was deeper
than anything she had ever experienced. She was dead tired from not
having slept, but also she was still in shock from the events that had
torn at her over the past week.
Finally the van pulled to a stop in front of Merchant Victor Dukov�s
house. Victor stepped outside, with Jason and Pedro shyly following. The
side door of the van opened and the two women got out. The moment had
come for Maria Elena to return to her lover�s arms and for Cecilia to
begin her radically changed life. For a moment the two women stood
quietly, simply staring at their loved ones but unable to speak.
Everyone was uncomfortable, not just because of the experiences that
Maria Elena and Cecilia had just endured, but also because no one was
used to seeing Victor and Cecilia naked and wearing Temple collars.
Pedro, especially, seemed not to know what to make of seeing his
authoritative aunt wearing nothing but a collar and a subdued
expression.
It was Jason who broke the silence. He stepped forward to take Cecilia
in his arms. Victor followed suit and embraced Maria Elena. At first she
couldn�t react. She wanted to feel joy at being back in Victor�s arms,
but couldn�t feel anything at all. She hated herself for her lack of
emotion, but then the numbness lifted and she started crying. She hugged
Victor hard as her old personality asserted itself through the trauma of
the past week. She realized it would take time, but eventually she would
indeed recover.
The cops in the van drove off and everyone went inside. Jason had a
practical issue to deal with, the condition of Cecilia�s feet. He helped
her upstairs, unwrapped her bandages, and put more disinfectant on her
sores. He told her that if she stayed off her feet she would be much
better the next day, and that calluses that would protect her would
start forming within a few days. His own feet were covered with thick
calluses, from spending four years living without footwear whenever
weather permitted.
Cecilia summarized what had happened at the Royal Residence, focusing on
that awful moment the Royal Guard pulled open the cellar door and she
saw Maria Elena as she was being beaten and raped. Then she related the
day�s other events, right up to the moment she and Maria Elena passed
the corpses of the two treasonous Lords and headed out to the van.
There was a lot missing from Cecilia�s narrative, because she had no
information concerning what had become of Grand Duchess Anyia. She had
overheard one of the servants mentioning that she had been beaten by her
mother, but had not seen the punishment herself and did not know if it
was true. She had no clue what had happened to the Grand Duke. To that
Jason responded:
�Well, you�ll be in court tomorrow and I�d imagine Kim will fill you
in.�
Jason ran Cecilia a bath and carried her to the tub so she wouldn�t have
to get on her feet. Being carried made Cecilia feel like an invalid, but
Jason was insistent. She had to stay off her feet until the next morning
so they could heal.
A few minutes later Jason lifted Cecilia out of the bathtub and set her
on a towel on her bed. As he carried her, Cecilia�s feelings about him
changed. She now was helpless and dependent upon him. Not only was she
feeling weak in his strong arms, but also she realized that during her
time she was collared he would be in charge of what was going on in her
life. He knew what she needed to do about her feet, just like he knew
how she would have to make the transition to properly performing Public
Penance. It was the collar that would make her dependent upon him.
Anytime in the past, she would not have found submitting to his
direction acceptable, but at that moment she realized that she didn�t
mind.
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Victor had his own set of psychological issues to contend with as he
held his traumatized lover in his arms. He felt horribly guilty that she
had suffered so much at the hands of his own niece, the daughter of his
brother. Of course the reason why that had happened was because of a
unique set of legal circumstances that had just been terminated, but at
the moment that was not any consolation. The fact that he had spent the
week totally helpless, fretting about her situation but unable to do
anything to assist her, wore on his conscience. He was ashamed of his
own helplessness.
Finally Maria Elena calmed down enough that Victor was able to take her
inside. In the living room he saw the full extent to which she had been
abused. Her body was covered with bruises. Her bottom had taken the
brunt of the abuse and was covered with painful welts. Beyond her
backside the welts thinned out somewhat, but no part of her body: not
her legs, nor her back, nor her arms, nor her breasts, had been spared
from the continuous whippings from Lord Vidmarkt. Victor was enraged by
what had happened, but for him there would be no revenge, because the
Lord who had abused her was dead.
As soon as Jason had taken Cecilia out of the bathroom, Victor ran a
bath for Maria Elena. She was exhausted, but grateful for the
opportunity to get cleaned up and simply relax. For a long time she had
no desire to get out of the tub; she just wanted the hot water to relax
her sore body and clean away the psychological filth of her time at the
Royal Residence. She was desperately hungry, which Victor sensed. He
brought her a snack of bread and fruit, which she devoured while still
sitting in the tub.
Once she finished eating Victor contemplated Maria Elena�s dirty hair,
which was still dishonorably loose. Looking at his lover�s loose hair
was a bizarre experience for him, because it had been many years since
had he seen the unbraided hair of a woman he loved. When he was still in
high school his future wife had her hair unbraided, but the day she
graduated and formally became a woman her hair was properly done up, as
was the hair of every other woman in the graduating class. He thought
back to the moment he saw her at the graduation ceremony, no longer a
high school girl but an adult� a woman who had made the transition to
honorable citizen� and the woman he knew he was destined to marry. Since
that ceremony he had never seen her hair loosened, because his wife was
a proper Danubian who strongly believed in protocol.
Throughout his life, Victor�s prejudices about braided hair had been
typical for any Danubian man. The only women he had seen with unbraided
hair were foreigners, who had all kinds of weird customs not practiced
in the Duchy. A lot had changed since he graduated from high school,
especially the influx of huge numbers of foreign tourists walking around
Dan�bikt M�skt with their hair flowing loose in the wind. Loose hair now
was a common sight, but still it set tourists apart from everyone else.
Dishonorable� totally dishonorable� those foreigners.
And yet� seeing Maria Elena�s thick black hair loose around her wet
shoulders gave Victor a strange idea. He was tempted to touch it�
something he would not have dreamt of doing with his deceased wife.
Maria Elena was a foreigner herself, so she really did not understand
what a huge taboo it was in Danubian culture for a man to see a woman�s
loose hair, let alone touch it. He cautiously reached out and felt a
loose strand.
Maria Elena did not understand what Victor wanted. She remembered that
she had not yet shampooed her hair and assumed that was what her lover
wanted to do, help her clean her hair. She handed him a shampoo bottle.
Victor took a deep breath and complied, putting some shampoo into his
hands and working it into her hair. It was at totally surreal experience
for him, something that probably no other Danubian man had ever done,
certainly not one without a foreign partner.
By the time Maria Elena got out she had spent nearly 40 minutes sitting
in hot water, which helped to soften her welts. Victor helped her out of
the tub and assisted her as she dried off. He led her to his bed, hoping
to continue the moment of intimacy, but as soon as she lay down she was
asleep. He looked at her bare body, but remained fascinated at the
thought of her loose hair. He took a strand in his hand, knowing that as
soon as she got up the next morning Cecilia would restore her braids and
that would be the end of the strange intimacy he had shared with her.
She would go to court, come back later in the day, and then life would
return to normal. But for him the memory would remain� the memory of
doing something forbidden with his lover that probably no other man he
knew had ever done or even thought about doing.
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The next morning it was Pedro who woke up everyone in the house. He had
to go to school, which meant that either Cecilia or Victor had to get up
to serve him breakfast. Victor went downstairs to cook for the boy,
because Cecilia needed to braid Maria Elena�s hair and Maria Elena
needed to bandage Cecilia�s feet. As soon as those two tasks were
accomplished Officer Vladik Dukov passed by in a police van to take the
two women downtown to the Central Courthouse. Before Criminal # 101025
could return to her normal life, her collar from the Royal Residence
would have to be removed and replaced with one from the Ministry of
Justice.
Victor stayed behind with Pedro. Although it no longer was a secret that
he and Maria Elena were lovers, he saw no point in sharing that detail
with the world by showing up wearing a Church collar in what was likely
to be a public hearing. Instead he would finish sending Pedro off to
school and simply go to his office. As much as he wanted to be present
to see Maria Elena officially returned to the Ministry of Justice, he
knew that the public scandal would be bad enough as it was and for the
Prime Minister�s brother to be seen at the Courthouse wearing a collar
was not something the public or the government needed.
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A few minutes later Vladik delivered his passengers to the Central
Courthouse. The steps were crowded with people: most of whom were family
members, friends, and former co-workers of the 30 servants who were to
be transferred back to the Ministry of Justice that morning. The
criminals had not been in contact with their families since their
internment in the Royal Residence, so the relatives were desperate to
find out what had happened to them. The crowd completely filled the
steps and part of the street below, with only a narrow passage down the
middle to allow police officials and criminals to pass.
Maria Elena was not surprised to see her classmate Carmen and several
other norteamericanos standing among the crowd, their bare bodies
standing out among the mostly clothed throng of bystanders on the steps.
Just as Vladik drove up to the Central Courthouse, five Spokespersons
led 30 naked criminals out of the Central Police Station and across the
Plaza. The Spokespersons walked in single file, each leading his or her
respective clients. Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna was the fourth in the
group, because the Spokespersons had organized their walk according to
seniority.
The Priestess who had organized the previous day�s seizure of the
servants followed the Spokespersons, accompanied by several other Clergy
members. As she walked in her long black dress, she looked more severe
than ever: the no-nonsense woman who had taken on the Royal Family and
won.
Kim signaled to Maria Elena and Cecilia that they needed to fall in
behind her and march with the other criminals into the Courthouse. They
joined the line of naked clients and followed her up the steps and
through the main door. The criminals and their Spokespersons passed
through another set of doors that led into the main trial chamber. The
Spokespersons then stood off to one side, while the criminals knelt in
formation in front of the judges who made up the nation�s Supreme
Judicial Tribunal. The audience filed in next, quickly filling the seats
off to the side of the chamber. Parents and employers were given
priority for seating, but a few seats in the back remained open for
friends and co-workers. Maria Elena and Cecilia noticed that Carmen and
one other classmate had managed to get seats near the wall. The majority
of the crowd would have to remain outside, but the police had rigged up
some speakers to keep the people waiting on the steps abreast of what
was going on inside the courtroom.
�DOC-DOC DANUBE!�
The
spectators, Spokespersons, and police officers immediately stood at
attention and saluted, while the criminals and people performing Public
Penance knelt forward and placed their heads on the ground. The Supreme
Court Justices entered the room and took their seats at the bench.
Cecilia, kneeling naked with a group of criminals, felt awkward as she
placed her head on the floor. According to protocol, her knees were
slightly spread and she arched her back, completely exposing her bottom
and vulva to everyone standing behind her. The position had forced open
her labia. A slight breeze blowing through the courtroom felt cold as it
touched the wetness of her vagina, making her aware just how exposed she
really was. A part of her that was reserved only for Jason now was on
display to hundreds of spectators. She tried to force her mind off her
embarrassment, telling herself that she was only one of 20 naked women
kneeling in the same position, but that did not help her at the moment.
Cecilia and Maria Elena had expected a lengthy legal procedure, perhaps
a reading of names or some other form of official protocol. However, as
soon as the room was silent the Chief Justice called out:
�Minister of Justice H�shtukt! Are you present in this courtroom?�
�Yes Chief Justice, I am present!�
�Grand Duke M�dchatk XXIX! Are you present in this courtroom?�
�Yes Chief Justice, I am present!�
�Very well. Please step forward!�
The Chief Justice addressed the kneeling criminals next:
�You will kneel upright for the remainder of this hearing. Remember your
Paths in Life as criminals and do not speak unless spoken to, and do not
move until directed.�
Silently the group of criminals knelt upright.
Maria Elena was curious to see the Grand Duke. He was wearing �simple�
Royal Attire: an embroidered suit styled from the late 1700�s and a
tri-corner hat that had been popular in Europe before the French
Revolution. He did not have his cape and crown, which would have
constituted full Royal Attire. He appeared subdued, in spite of the fact
that, unlike his wife, he was not being forced to perform Public
Penance.
The Grand Duke did something that at the moment did not mean anything to
Maria Elena and Cecilia, but was significant in the eyes of the Danubian
people. When he approached the Chief Justice, he took off his hat.
Throughout Danubia�s history, no King or Grand Duke had ever taken off
his hat before a civilian official. The Danubian sovereign was aware of
the break in protocol and nervously held the hat in his hands as he
stood before the bench. The Chief Justice did not display any reaction,
because he had been forewarned by the Prime Minister of the upcoming
change in the role of the nation�s Royal Family. However, the audience
stared at their sovereign�s bare head with wide eyes.
In a barely audible whisper Cecilia translated the remainder of the
hearing into Maria Elena�s ear�
�Grand Duke. This Court is honored by your presence. Our understanding
is that you wish to address a matter of concern to your household and to
the Ministry of Justice. Is that true, Grand Duke?�
�Yes Chief Justice. What you have said is true. I have come before you
to address the issue of the criminals currently serving in my personal
residence as Royal Servants.�
�Yes, Grand Duke? How do you wish to address the issue of your
servants?�
�Chief Justice, the Royal Family wishes to release control of all
criminals currently assigned to serve in the Royal Residence. We request
that this Court reassign formal custody of all the criminals kneeling
before you, specifically that they be returned to the custody of the
Ministry of Justice and cared for as stipulated by the National
Constitution of the Republic of Danubia and the National Code of
Criminal Justice. The Royal Family wishes to formally declare that these
criminals have no further obligation to myself or to any other member of
the Royal Family.�
�May I ask why you are requesting the reassignment of your servants,
Grand Duke?�
The Grand Duke took a deep breath.
�There is legislation pending in the National Parliament that will
revise the role of the Royal Family and assure that our status meets the
needs of modern society. One of those changes will be that everyone
working in the Royal Residence will be a salaried public employee
instead of a criminal servant. I have agreed that the change is
appropriate for both the needs of the Royal Family and the needs of the
Danubian Republic. The position of criminal servant will be abolished,
and therefore it is inappropriate to retain such servants on any
property being utilized by the Royal Family.�
�Very well, Grand Duke. To make sure this Court and the nation
understands exactly what you wish to do, I shall repeat my understanding
of your desire for the Royal Servants. Your wish is for them to be
reassigned to the Ministry of Justice and for them to permanently leave
your service. Is that correct, Grand Duke?�
�That is correct, Chief Justice. The Royal Family is requesting they
permanently be reassigned.�
�Minister of Justice H�shtukt! Does your Ministry agree to accept
custody of the criminals currently assigned as servants to the Royal
Family?�
�Yes, Chief Justice. The Ministry of Justice accepts reassignment of the
Royal Servants and will assume custody of them as ordinary criminals.�
�What will be the condition of their reassignment, Minister of Justice?�
�Each criminal�s original sentence will be reinstated. Each criminal
will return to service for the Ministry under the direction of their
former Spokesperson. The Grand Duke and I reached that agreement last
night. However, I will request one change in the status of these
criminals from this Court.�
�Yes, Minister of Justice? What is that change?�
�I have determined that the criminals have proven themselves trustworthy
enough to be assigned collars with brass rings. I wish to make that
request to this Court.�
�This Court grants your request, Minister of Justice. If you believe
these criminals have earned the privilege of wearing the brass ring,
then this Court will comply with your desire.�
�Thank you, Chief Justice.�
The Chief Justice then turned his attention to the Grand Duke.
�Grand Duke, this Court has granted your request and the former servants
of the Royal Residence are reassigned as of this moment. This Court
again thanks you for your presence and your service to the nation. If
you wish to depart from this courtroom, you are free to do so.�
The Grand Duke then did something else totally unheard of from a
Danubian sovereign, he saluted the Chief Justice, who stood and saluted
back. Again the crowd looked at him with bewildered expressions, because
he had just shown himself as a subordinate to a civilian official.
Ignoring the stares of his audience, he calmly put on his hat, did a
sharp about-face, and walked to the back of the room.
Not many people in the courtroom had yet noticed, but waiting for the
Grand Duke was his father-in-law, the nation�s Prime Minister. The two
men left the courtroom and walked down the steps of the Central
Courthouse, stepping through the waiting crowd and descending to the
Central Plaza. From there they walked to the National Parliament
Building. The Grand Duke was thoroughly depressed and what little fight
he had in him was gone. The events over the past 24 hours had left him
totally demoralized, something that Vladim Dukov planned to exploit as
much as possible. Within two hours the Sovereign would address
Parliament, speaking on behalf of passing reforms that would formally
strip him of his remaining power.
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Once the Grand Duke departed, the only part of the reassignment hearing
remaining was to re-collar the 30 former Royal Servants with Ministry of
Justice collars. The fancy collars of the Royal Family needed to be
taken off each criminal�s neck, to be replaced with the drab collars
used by the Ministry of Justice. Maria Elena noticed a definite change
of mood among her fellow servants now that the collar technician had
come out with the collar extractor and a cart carrying 30 new collars
with brass rings. Already the criminals had been formally transferred
but, there was an old Danubian saying that went:
�Dreams are what�s in your head; reality is what�s around your neck.�
The Chief Justice felt no need to delay. Even as the collar technician
was still getting set up, the judge ordered the first Spokesman to step
forward with the four criminals assigned to him. The criminals
immediately stood up, moved forward with their custodian, and resumed
kneeling. A moment later the technician ordered the first of the
criminals to come forward and kneel at a sturdy metal post with handles
that was about a meter high. The criminal grabbed the handles and
remained still as the technician lowered a scary-looking device that
looked like a huge pair of pliers over her head. The official mounted
the collar extractor on a loop at the top of the post and with several
clamps attached it around the Royal House collar. A moment later there
was a sharp metallic clank and the distinct sound of breaking metal. The
latch of the Royal House collar was snapped and a second later it was
off the criminal�s neck. The technician repeated the extraction with the
other three criminals of the first group. Then he set the extractor
aside and ordered the first criminal to resume her position at the post.
He lowered a second device over her head, the implement that would
replace her broken Royal House collar with one from the Ministry of
Justice.
The young woman was still a criminal, but she was happy about the
change. Maybe she was not completely free, but she certainly would have
a lot more liberty than she had experienced any time over the past year.
She would walk out on the street, go to work, eat when she wanted, and
sleep in her own bed. More important than anything else, she would have
the freedom to talk. For a person who had just endured what she had to
face under Grand Duchess Anyia� that was enough for the time being.
Once the first group of criminals was re-collared, their Spokesman took
them out of the courtroom. Unlike the hearing that formally ended a
criminal�s sentence, there would be no formal ceremony because the
sentences were not ending or being reduced. The former Royal Servants
may have felt elated that they would be returning to their families and
their normal lives, but from the point of view of the court a
reassignment was not the same thing as a release, and thus nothing to
celebrate.
Because she lacked seniority, Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna�s group was the
fourth out of five to be re-collared. Like her companions, Maria Elena
was hugely relieved once the collar of the Royal Family was off her
neck. Once the Ministry of Justice collar had replaced it, she knew that
she was wearing the proof that Grand Duchess Anyia had no further claim
on her.
As soon as the last of her group was re-collared, Kim immediately led
her seven foreign clients and Cecilia out of the courtroom and down the
steps outside. There were joyous reunions between the criminals and
their various friends, host families, and co-workers. Maria Elena was
cheerfully greeted by Carmen and the other classmates, who whisked her
off to the university to celebrate her return. The six other clients
disappeared as well, leaving Kim and Cecilia standing alone on the
stairs.
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Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna invited Cecilia to have lunch at a caf� near
the Central Police Station before returning to work in her office. As
they returned to the police headquarters, the two women noticed that the
building was extremely quiet. They walked past the building�s cafeteria
and saw that it was completely packed with police officers and civilian
employees, all crowded around a large television set. The normal
programming had been canceled, replaced with live coverage of the
nation�s Parliament. Across the bottom of the screen were the words:
V�lkt Duk�kt R�gis treb�t d�k Leg�tkci eta Der�chekti Kor�nkti
Translated into English the words meant: Royal Grand Duke renounces the
Rights and Powers of the Crown.
Kim and Cecilia could tell the Danubians were mystified at the event
unfolding on television. Why would the Grand Duke go to Parliament and
surrender all his formal powers? It didn�t make any sense, but obviously
it was what the Sovereign wanted, because he was the one who had
introduced the legislation. Grand Dukes up until that moment had the
right to introduce legislation, but that was a power they rarely had
exercised. There was huge irony that the Grand Duke had formally
introduced a bill that, if passed, would be the last legislation ever
submitted by a member of the Royal Family.
Parts of the Grand Duke�s speech were replayed as the two women watched
with the crowd of Danubians. The Grand Duke had a stricken look on his
face as he rambled on about the need for the Danubian Royal family to
change its role to adapt to the needs of modern society. Kim remembered
that had been the same line he had spoken when he was in court returning
the Royal Servants to the Ministry of Justice. She guessed those words
must have come from the Duke�s father-in-law, a statement that would
spare the Royal Family from having to admit the real reason they were
being forced to surrender their powers.
�The needs of modern society�� what total bullshit, thought Kim to
herself. It was because of Anyia that the Grand Duke was forced to give
up all of his privileges. Kim felt sorry for him at that moment, because
he was being forced to surrender not only his Constitutional authority,
but that of all the future Grand Dukes who would come after him. The
Spokeswoman sympathized with him because he really had not done
anything. His only crime was not to make a stronger effort to control
his wife�s excesses, but Vladim Dukov was convinced that failure
constituted dereliction of duty. Kim understood the Grand Duke�s
appearance in front of Parliament was to be his punishment for that
failure. It turned out the punishment would be severe indeed, much more
severe than it sounded when Dukov first mentioned it. The Sovereign had
been forced to stand before the Legislature and ask to be permanently
stripped of everything that had been passed down to him by his
forbearers.
The Danubians were not so na�ve to think that the Grand Duke would
surrender all of his privileges if something unknown to the public had
not forced him to do so. The fact that Vladim Dukov was standing right
behind him, as though to prod him forward, offered a clue that the
surrender of Royal Privileges was coerced. The Duke�s forlorn expression
offered another clue, as did the expression of the Prime Minister.
Vladim Dukov seemed different from what the public was used to: he
appeared cold, hardened, and ruthlessly determined as he waited for his
son-in-law to finish his speech.
There was no question the legislation would pass, because the Grand Duke
was the one who had introduced it. However, among the deputies there was
endless chatter why the Grand Duke had requested such a radical
reduction in his status. Some of the deputies took him at his word; that
the change was needed to meet the needs of modern society. Most of the
deputies knew better. They realized that there must have been a hidden
scandal that had caused the Grand Duke to relinquish his privileges. The
deputies also realized that Vladim Dukov must have known what the
scandal was. The more perceptive deputies also understood that whatever
had caused the Duke to present the legislation, it probably was
something better left as a secret.
Kim and Cecilia could tell that most of the cops and Ministry employees
surrounding them in the cafeteria were deeply troubled by what the Grand
Duke was doing, because he remained a popular figure in Danubian
society. Certainly no one wished him any harm or embarrassment, nor did
anyone really want the Royal Family to lose any more of its influence.
The room was full of discussion why the Grand Duke had made such a grave
decision.
As they listened to the arguments and speculation about what had
happened to the Grand Duke, Kim and Cecilia felt guilty. They did not
have to speculate, because they knew the awful truth. As much as they
wanted to jump into the conversation and correct all the mistaken
guesses circulating around the room, they didn�t dare do so.
Many of the women in the cafeteria expressed concern over Grand Duchess
Anyia. She had not been seen with the Grand Duke, which was unusual for
a public appearance. She was so pretty and poised, such a wonderful
partner for the nation�s Sovereign. Wherever he went, she was at his
side, always displaying a new outfit. Already the women missed her
fashionable clothes�
Suddenly Kim realized something important from what she overheard. Grand
Duchess Anyia was starting to have an impact on Danubian society with
her constant display of new and expensive clothing. That was behavior
the Danubian public had not seen before and it was a change that many of
the nation�s women, especially the younger ones, found fascinating.
Danubia always had been one country where people did not waste a large
portion of their personal incomes on fashion, which the Danubian Church
condemned as �the evil worship of cloth�. Was it possible that, if left
unchecked, Anyia Dukov might have transformed that part of Danubian
culture?
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Maria Elena�s returned to Victor�s house with the norteamericanos who
wore collars in protest of her sentencing, plus a few others who had not
participated in the Public Penance but still wanted to celebrate her
reassignment. They accompanied her to the house, hugged her goodbye, and
departed back in the direction of the university. Victor and Maria Elena
hugged each other as they were reunited. The previous night she had been
too exhausted to really care what was going on, but now, with the
Ministry of Justice collar on her neck and after having spent an
afternoon with her classmates, she truly felt that she was home.
Victor and Cecilia talked to Maria Elena about what had gone on that
day; namely that the Grand Duke had surrendered most of his Royal Powers
and requested that all Royal Property be transferred to the Interior
Ministry. Victor then told the two women that he wanted to pray and give
thanks to the Ancients that Maria Elena had safely returned. They went
out into the back yard and under the stars they prayed, with Victor
leading the prayers.
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Later Maria Elena and Victor returned to his bedroom. For a long time
she lay quiet while he studied the fading welts and bruises that still
covered her body. He touched her tenderly. She had expected that, after
the rough treatment at the hands of Anyia�s assistant, she would be
afraid of being touched. However, her love for Victor far overwhelmed
the trauma she had just endured, and she longed to feel his hands on her
body again. Gradually she took control and got him to lie on his
stomach. She massaged him, rolled him over, and worked him into an
erection. When he tried to sit up and take her, she pressed her hand on
his chest to silently command him to lie back down. She continued to
work him into an erotic frenzy with her touches, but let him know that
she was the one who would control their love-making that night. Finally
she straddled him and lowered herself over his hard penis. She gently
rocked back and forth as he pumped semen into her. He climaxed and
slowly went limp as she continued to straddle him.
Maria Elena took longer to climax, but finally she did have an orgasm.
It was extremely important to her� because she felt that until she had
made love with Victor, she would not truly have escaped the torment she
had endured in the Royal Residence. The orgasm that night might not have
been one of her best, but at least she had it.
The couple fell asleep in each other�s arms. As she drifted off to
sleep, Maria Elena finally felt that she truly had returned home�
returned to the place where she belonged.
