The Court of Souls?

“Desire is a sense of longing or hoping for a person, object, or outcome. The same sense is expressed by emotions such as "craving." When a person desires something or someone, their sense of longing is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of the item or person, and they want to take actions to obtain their goal. The motivational aspect of desire has long been noted by philosophers; Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) asserted that human desire is the fundamental motivation of all human action.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Neutral Territories between Equilibrium and Soistaat***

***Elona***

We are sitting at a rough stone table under free sky. I admire the violet quartz from which it was summoned by Sous. The table has room for six people and has the shape of a triangle. Each side has room for two people.

Tisha is sitting right next to me and assisting in this diplomatic endeavour. I just hope that this isn't going to end in one epic fuck up. Especially since I proposed the idea.

I size up the two groups of people who are meeting us today. To our left is Sous, the leader of Equilibrium. His son, Ajax, is sitting at the far side of the table. He is an almost perfect image of his father, just younger. Blonde hair, green eyes and a stunningly average face. Okay, maybe certain girls could find him attractive, but I do not. I wish I could have worked on his appearance before this whole meeting started.

To my right is Morpheus, leader of Soistaat. He is a lean man with green hair and drooping eyes. So far, he never opened them, but he still seems to notice everything that is going on. He is accompanied by his daughter, Takea. I already know her from the party a few months ago. Her eyes are transfixed to my belly.

I pat it and smile at her triumphantly. That awakens her from her trance and finally she manages to move her eyes away.

“So, what do you think about our proposal?” Tisha opens the discussion with a hopeful expression.

We invited the two parties in hopes of forming an alliance against the slavers. But the problem with their two clans is that they have a long and well-kept history of being enemies. Before someone paid Morello from Imothep to destroy their slowly improving relationship, they were on the best way to making peace.

“We won't work with the bastards who got one of our clan members killed.” Sous crosses his arms in front of his chest and shakes his head.

“We can say the same about you!” Morpheus hisses at Sous.

They continue bickering until Tisha raises both hands to stop them. “We understand that there is a lot of bad blood between your factions. But why don't you fight against the real enemies who wanted to keep you locked in your internal affairs? Wasn't it proven that Imothep was behind the assassinations?”

I nod vehemently. “Yes, you even found out that they were assisted by a traitor. Rhia was her name, wasn't it?”

Sous starts laughing. “One more reason not to trust such people. And the alliance has already expulsed Imothep and stopped any trade with them. It's just a question of time until they give up. Their island isn't self sustaining.”

Morpheus retaliates immediately. “As if your lying bunch would be any better. Your people wouldn't wait a second if they got the chance to stab someone in the back. And even if both of our clans would unite, we wouldn't stand a chance against Imothep.”

Oops, maybe not the best argument.

Tisha tries to salvage the situation. “I think our proposal contained a detailed explanation of the events. That's why we believe that Imothep played the role of hired guns. But we've set a trap for the ones who can truly be blamed. If we had your people at our side when the trap snaps shut...” She continues to explain our suspicions about our enemies without mentioning names.

I can already see that Sous and Morpheus are two dickheads. No matter what we say, they already have their opinion. They just visited this meeting to save face towards us.

My attention turns to Ajax and Takea. Their attention kept wandering from person to person, but I noticed that both of them are avoiding eye-contact with each other.

Such innocence.

Wetting my lips, I slide a little lower in my seat and stretch my leg out under the table. It's fortunate that the both of them are sitting across from each other.

I activate my ability on Ajax and brush my leg teasingly across his inner thigh. Simultaneously I send a wave of pleasure into Takea. My ability doesn't work that well on women, but it should arouse her a little at the very least if I give her the full treatment.

Both of them straighten in their chairs and snap their heads to attention. Then they glare at each other with shocked expressions. From their point of view their counterpart is currently trying to initiate a very naughty contact.

Morpheus, Sous and Tisha are indulging themselves in a heated discussion in the meantime.

For several moments both my targets just glare at each other. So I let my foot and tail wander a little further towards their private places. Believe me, stretching like that in my current state is an accomplishment.

I already start fearing that I made a grave mistake in my judgement. I know that Takea tried to make out with that slimy bastard from Draconis, but I can't believe that it lasted longer than the party. Especially not after her abduction.

At last the corner of Takea's mouth twitches upwards, just a little. I retreat my caressing tail and leg as I feel her legs move. Seconds later both of Ajax's eyebrows rise. He shifts a little in his chair, which can mean only one thing.

Straightening myself, I let my eyes wander. The safe zone between these two clans is a nice, small patch of green grassland. If the two idiot factions had just a little bit of brain, they could work out a deal to share the land to grow food. Instead both of them settled down in the rougher territories north and south of the safe zone; and are fighting ever since.

My wandering attention returns to Ajax and Takea. Both are smiling at each other and they even decided to hold hands, their fingers intertwined.

Wow, I didn't expect that I am that good! All I did was remove their reason for restraining themselves. And it should have only worked on Ajax.

Suddenly Ajax interrupts the heated discussion between our three elders. “Father, I think this alliance would be a really good idea. I burn with the wish to punish the people who killed my cousin.”

“Yes, Dad. Let's make peace and kick some ass,” Takea adds with a heated voice.

The discussion ends abruptly as Ajax and Takea stand up and bend over the table. Then a fierce battle of lips and tongues starts.

Morpheus and Sous watch their offspring in horror, then the screaming starts. But the two of them simply ignore the dickheads.

Tisha leans over with a befuddled expression on her face and whispers, “You did something! Didn't you! Don't lie to me, I am also a sex demon!”

I raise a hand to my chest and feign shock. “I did nothing of the sort! Succubi only work with what's already there. We don't warp the minds of our clients. That was my mother's first lesson.”

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