Making Amends - Sex Stories

Making Amends

... chance to see the man to whom her virtue had been bartered away, she supposed it could have been much worse. He was handsome enough, at least, and seemed to possess no small amount of charm. More than a few times she had witnessed a young lady like herself married off to an older man not even half so desirable, after all, and all she needed endure was a single night.

“I see,” the ambassador smiled, inclining his head towards her once more. “You are most gracious, milady.”

“I... uh, thank you, your excellency,” Sienna demured, swallowing heavily before she carried on. “I would... understand, were you to hold the incident against me. Against my father. Such an assault on yourself and your companions was unprovoked, unwarranted, and utterly shameful.” As hard as she fought to keep her voice steady, the young knight's genuine shame at her cataclysmic error coupled with the nerves she felt standing in her nightclothes before a fully dressed and rather authoritative man more than a decade her elder brought an undeniable quiver to her words. While her voice may have betrayed her, though, her eyes did not. They held steady on the wounded foreigner's own as she powered on through the rest of her thoroughly-practiced confession. “I regret my error with all the strength of my heart and am... prepared to do whatever it takes to make amends.”

For a very long moment indeed, the man standing before Sienna fixed her with the most curious stare. He just stood there, lips pursed and ...

... hands clasped behind his back in a polite manner as if he were mulling over her words. It went on so long the scantily-clad maiden almost started to believe he was actually surprised by her offer and contemplating its implications. That thought was swiftly banished, however, when she forced herself to remember that this was a man who acted for a living. Not on the stage, perhaps, an imperial aristocrat would likely consider such a vocation far beneath his dignity, but the art of diplomacy was not so different. It was his calling to lie, bluff, and twist the facts until those sitting across the table from him saw the world as he did. Such a man could never be entirely trusted.

When at last the ambassador snapped out of his pensive performance it was to flash his visitor a modest half-smile and lift one hand to gently tap at the bump her blow had raised on his head. “As glad as I am to hear that you regret our little altercation, milady, you need not concern yourself overmuch on my account. By the grace of the eternals, I escaped with naught but this most trifling of wounds.”

For the briefest of moments, Sienna allowed herself to believe that she had been the victim of some grand misunderstanding, that her father had been mistaken somehow and the eminently reasonable man addressing her had no intentions whatsoever of compelling her into any dishonourable acts. But just for a moment. Such childish illusions shattered as swiftly as they had formed when the emissary's face ...