I walked down those steps, wow, there were so little compared to the first time I had been down here. It was a garden with flowers and shrubs, nothing special to them. They were nice, they were a nobleman's garden, what. I found Corrine with... well look at that... Sera and an older handmaiden, who stiffened upon seeing my arrival. Corrine looked up and sighed, throwing her back down on the grass, her arms behind her head.

"Will you cease following me, Uncle?"

"No. I'm bored see. About the Bishop... are you sure he's fucking your brother's face?"

"No."

"Well then why did you lie to me?" My hand gripped on my leather belt and a feeling of excitement took me.

"I didn't lie to you. You asked me if I was sure. I'm not sure. Actually, my brother might be the one ordering the Bishop to do things to him. Don't ask me what the things are. My father doesn't allow me to speak of such things. All he's afraid of is me being raped."

"By me?"

"No. He knows you won't rape any girl. It's not in your ways."

I contemplated this accusation for a moment. My fingers glanced on the leather of my belt once more and a bolt of pleasure zapped through me. I undid it and snapped it in two, cracking the air with its glorious sound.

Corrine lifted herself from the hanging net and eyed my belt, frowning. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"Are you afraid? I'm not brandishing my knife, here. It's just a strap."

I cracked the pieces of tanned skin together once more and Sera squealed slightly. The adult handmaiden-who looked a bit like Sera, so she was probably her mother-knew to shut her daughter up. Corrine approached me.

"You told me to shut my mouth at the table. Are you afraid my father will know that you're going to end up beating us?"

"And you told me to keep quiet about Henry and the Bishop. Are we really both blackmailing each other?"

"Seems like we're on an even ground."

"You're a child. I'm an adult. I think I have a bit of an advantage."

"You can try to scare me..."

"No. I can scare you. The terror in your eyes as I told you I was going to rape you was not merely play."

She did not answer. "Leave me."

"Fine. You're boring anyway."

"Good."

I saw the family again at the table for dinner. Everyone was rather quiet. Marcus was eyeing me with disgust, probably because of what I had done to Iris, who didn't seem as bothered. She even smiled at me at one point. After dessert, I followed her from afar, and marched into her bedchamber. She jumped, but then relaxed.

"You smiled at me."

"You're a funny man."

"You liked what we did this afternoon."

She paused and removed her clothes, but didn't stay nude. She covered herself again with a night shift.

"I didn't think my heart could beat so hard, my feeling be so intense. Uncle... should you want to take my maidenhead... you should do it subtly."

"Why do you think I want your maidenhead?"

"I... just thought..."

"Why? I think you want me to take your maidenhead."

"Hearthgarden is a place of boredom, for all of us. There is nothing to do, and we all have our curiosities. Our father has strictly advised us not to do anything with the guards, well... especially when it comes to maidenhood. He placed the rest of his personnel under oath not to touch us sexually. There are loopholes, and one of them... is you. I know you slept with our mother, that you betrayed your own brother."

I smiled. "I did do that."

"Did... did you kill her?"

"No. Corrine did."

"Don't say that. She feels horrible about it already."

"Good."

"Don't be so mean."

"I have nothing else, Iris. I'm a warrior, not a handmaiden. Being mean, cruel, violent is what I'm good at."

"I don't think so. You loved our mother. You did!"

I remained poised, my face neutral to this indictment.

"What happened for you to become so wanton, in need of torrid satisfaction?"

"Like I said, Hearthgarden is boring. Why not explore a dangerous branch?"

"Are you bleeding yet, Iris?"

She blushed and nodded. I did not nod in return, or show any sign of positivity or negativity. I did contemplate however, how beautiful it would be to lap the milk of my own blood. Should she give birth to my child, I would rid of it; it would borne a monster.

But I couldn't. I couldn't imagine myself making love to this girl, fucking her, doing anything of the sorts. It wasn't my ways, but a barbaric quickly-finished way to gain short-term pleasure. I sighed, this time showing a bit of exasperation.

"I can't. I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I don't like it."

"Don't like what?"

"Fucking."

"You... don't like... b-but how?"

"I just dislike it. Sexual play is stupid."

"And this is why you whip me instead? That gives you the rush you look for, because of your rejection to sexuality. I should have known..."

"Certain things do excite me, but my own member within a woman isn't one of them."

"So you hated making love to my mother?"

I didn't respond to this. "Sleep. I'll see you in the morrow."

"Wait... Victor!"

But I was outside, thinking. Thinking too much. I wasn't a thinker. I didn't need to do this, not that it was a base thing to do. It was not my ways. I liked who I was at the moment, and I didn't want some youth to change that for me.

Not that I was expecting it, but I wasn't surprised when I felt a hand bother me in my bed. I couldn't sleep anyway. I turned and found blond Marcus, standing next to my bed, wearing nothing but his night pants, tight on his increasingly muscular body.

"Iris told me everything. You really did fuck our mother."

"What are you going to do about it?" I asked, reaching for the oil lamp and giving us some light. I didn't care that he was intruding, as least he wasn't armed. Then again, that could have been very interesting.

He looked away, but then came back and stared intently into my eyes. "Don't lie, Victor. Are... you my father?"

I nodded. "I am."

"Of Iris and Corrine as well?"

I nodded.

"Your mother loved me far more than she loved my brother, but the laws of marriage made the firstborn of our family eligible to marry her. Henry is Balimund's only son. However, Marcus... I'm not like you and Iris, telling each other everything. This is your speculation, and I will only really tell you the truth, because you are my first-born, not Balimund's. You realize then that if word of this comes you, you will lose everything that your father has in store for you, and will instead inherit my estate, my cavalry, my pillaged gold. Instead of being a Lord, you'll be Mercenary, a rebel, a horseman."

He sat on my bed and swore, his hands covering his face and running through his hair. I wouldn't call him a boy, not anymore. He was a man, and I was proud of him. Not of his arrogance, but of his looks. I would have to teach some sense into him.

"Actually, Corrine I'm not so sure. I recall seeing your mother, but she had been... I'll never know for sure if Corrine is your sister or cousin, but Iris yes. Corrine does look like me, though."

"Horseman or Lord..." Marcus growled. "Why did this have to happen?"

"So you could choose."

"Choose and lie. My... Balimund will really think that I am his son, forever, and you will have nothing."

"I don't really want you. I mean, I have you, and as a father, I do love you..." That sounded a bit disgusting coming out of my mouth, but it was almost the truth. "...but should you choose to remain a Lord, my nephew, honestly, it would be probably better. Should your fa... damn this. Should my brother know that I slept with your mother and that three of his children are actually mine... I have no idea what would happen. He would kill me."

"But he's a Lord. You're a warrior."

"Are you saying that in a battle I would be able to kill him?"

Marcus nodded slowly.

"You're probably right." I sat down next to him. "You know, you're a bit of a dick. Try to be less pompous. It's all right to have fun and jest, but to brag... it has always peeved me. You're my son now, and I would appreciate it if you did what you wanted, without making yourself out to be the best thing the county has ever seen."

"Yes, father."

Those words struck me. I had known for sixteen years that I had been a father, but I had waited, until this day to hear it, to let it sink in.

"Don't tell anyone, Marcus, else I will deny it, and you will lose your chance to become a Horseman, riding your way to freedom from these noble shackles. However, should you declare yourself a Horseman, which can be at any time, I will tell Balimund myself, and there will be... well bloodshed firstly."

I smiled, imagining such a show. How much blood did my brother hold within his generous body? How much time would it take for him to die of blood loss? I would die beforehand if it came to this, I was sure.

"Is it true that you don't fuck, that you don't like it?"

"Iris really shares everything with you."

"She... she does." He blushed and I slammed my palm into my face.

"You are too bored here. There are hand maidens to fuck, young ones, old ones, pretty ones. Take your pick and take your hands off your sister." "But she's beautiful and she wants it."

"You haven't fucked her...?"

"No."

"Who doesn't play erotically here?"

"Corrine. She's a bit young."

"And you're a fool. Children are as interested in sexuality as young adults are, if that's what you are... more like a transition period where you may look and feel off, but that is normal, I believe."

"So what do you do then, if you don't enjoy sex?"

"I enjoy it differently."

"How? Show me."

"You'll have to be my subject then."

"But you're... against incest."

"I'm not about to touch you sexually. Like I said, it's different." I got up. I was naked, and I wanted him to be naked too, just so I could tell if he was like me. I didn't know if I was born with this, or if it was a trait I had inherited on the battlefield.

"Strip. I want to see you."

He blushed and removed his leggings. He stood, proud, carved for a youth. He was pretty well-endowed too, and he would surely become larger in the next few years.

"Bend over, show me your cheeks," I told him, as I reached for my belt.

He did so and I felt the leather upon my hands, slick and glossy, sending a wave of warmth down my spine and into my pelvis. He leaned on my bed, his hands holding himself up and I whipped his left cheek. His knees buckles and he groaned in surprise, and looked back.

"You beat others?"

"I'm not beating you. I'm activating the largest organ in your body. Do you like it?"

He shrugged and I whipped the other cheek. He buckled again and I touched his neck and turned him around. He was panting, in fear, because his heart was probably beating furiously.

"I seem to like it." He was fully erected and I smiled at him.

"Good. Now I know I have an accomplice if ever I want to take on one of your sisters. I believe Iris likes it too, but Corrine... I doubt it. She'll be an amusing target because of this."

"I... you're against incest."

"It's not incest if you're not fucking or sucking or fingering them. Kissing, slapping, whipping, doesn't really count."

"Kissing? So you're into kissing girls?"

"Whomever I want to kiss, I kiss, except maybe my brother. That would be awkward."

"And your sister?"

"I haven't seen Catherine in years."

"Is she like you?"

"No."

Marcus smiled. "I'm glad I like it. We have something in common."

"Now, don't relay this to Iris, however... if you want to slap your sister for your pleasure, I don't mind. As long as it's below the waist: cheeks, thighs, a bit of the hips, and never hard, never to harm her organs. It's to sting her skin. Like I have done to you."

He nodded and still naked, he embraced me. I goosed his sensitive cheek, and he pressed deeper into my chest, holding me tightly. He wanted me to hold him in return, but I did not give him this satisfaction. He let go of me and took his leggings.

"Not a word," I told him. He nodded and left my room.

I walked to the window. I had dreamt of this day, where my children would know that I was their father, where I would be appreciated, where I would have my one true Heir. Balimund has his own, and I had my own. It was only fair, however, it was also cruel that he be cheated as such, but I did not really feel much remorse.

I never really did.