The Queen of Blood

Ch 20: Separation

Nicole decides it's safe to knock, considering she hadn't heard anything in twenty minutes.

She was so smug, and there was no way she wouldn't be teasing Estrella about this for days.

The door opens to reveal Celestia in a silk black robe, and Nicole's eyes spot Estrella half covered by the sheets. Naked, by the looks of it, just as Nicole had suspected. And sleeping.

I knew she couldn't handle the Queen, she thinks smugly to herself.

"Yes, Nicole?" Celestia asks, her voice low as to not wake Estrella.

"I didn't want to disturb, but the council has been trying to reach you for the past hour and a half. They wish to discuss the next course of action," Nicole says.

"Thank you, alert them that Commander Estrella and I will meet them shortly," Celestia says, watching Nicole walk off with an amused smile on her lips. She had started noticing the friendship forming between Estrella, and the genuine like they shared beneath the banter.

Celestia shuts the door and makes her way over to the bed. She pauses as she watches the sleeping girl, not wanting to wake her. However she needed to be present for these meetings.

Celestia assumes Estrella didn't get much sleep because she was worried. She knew that if the roles were reversed she wouldn't be able to sleep either.

She perches herself on the edge of the bed, her fingers gently brushing Estrella's hair from her face and caressing her cheek. Estrella stirs under the Queens soft touches and wakes slowly, turning onto her back and blinking several times and raising her hands to her face to rub her eyes.

Celestia's heart did a little thing in her chest.

How is it that someone can be so precious... She wondered to herself.

Estrella wakes slowly, meeting the Queen's eyes with her bright green ones and immediately blushing under them as she's hit with the recollection of what had happened in the past few hours.

Celestia smiles softly, her eyes their usual molten color doing their usual effect of making the girl's breathing quicken. She leans down and kisses Estrella, smiling as her ears pick up the elevation of the girl's pulse.

"We have business to attend to, little mouse. As much as I wished to let you sleep, I need you by my side. I cannot make these decisions without you," Celestia says and Estrella smiles.

Celestia crosses over to where servants had delivered several beautiful outfits gifted by the dressmakers of Harth Town.

Estrella slips out the sheets of the bed to cross over to where her dresses had been set out, however as she took a step she found herself nearly falling, her legs surprising shaky and her body a little weak. She stumbled back and leaned against the bed.

Celestia turns quickly, watching Estrella in concern before a smirk breaks across her face at the girl's flustered, confused expression.

"Oh love, are you experiencing fawn legs?" she purrs, her eyes piercingly sly, satisfied that she had done her job.

"N-no I'm fine," Estrella says, pushing herself up straight and delicately making her way to her dresses, feeling flustered under Celestia's gaze as she usually does.

"W-what... What does that.. Mean, anyways?" Estrella asks before she makes the connection. It does indeed feel like the muscles and nerves in her legs hadn't walked in a while, like a baby deer standing for the first time.

"Well—"

"Never mind, got it," she blushes, adding, "does that.. Happen every time?"

"With me? Oh most definitely. There will be times when you will not be able to walk, love," Celestia purrs, her robe sliding from her shoulders and landing in a black pool around her feet.