Elder's Meeting Retry

I had to wait an entire week before the next elder's meeting. Evidently, they only happened on one day of the week to go over recent events and things that needed changing within the village. I was lucky to have caught the last one but unfortunately hadn't paid much attention to it aside from that one guy getting rude.

That one guy was Elder Fredrick who was not only incredibly influential amongst the agricultural members of the community…

…he was also Isabella's uncle.

Once she caught wind that I'd come down pretty hard on him (though only the parts that put him in a good light), she came to visit. It gave me a little bit of time away from Gharret, much to his displeasure. When I'd cleared everything up, she seemed simultaneously relieved that I wasn't at fault and fired up about giving her uncle a tongue-lashing, herself. She knew more about the situation than I did and went so far as to track him down that day.

Meanwhile, whenever I wasn't being interrogated by Isabella, Gharret was….er.....keeping….

…keeping me busy…

He was almost insatiable and it seemed like every free moment, he'd get me alone and his hands would be on me in seconds. Not that I minded as he was really…really…talented. I hardly had time to eat or sleep, much less think. Eventually, I had to put my foot down and restrict him to only nighttime…then restrict him again to – at most – once per day-cycle. That meant he couldn't wake me up in the middle of the night with a surprise.

It wasn't as though these were quick little fucks in a broom closet, either. He kissed and touched and whispered sweet or sexy things in my ear. He held me afterward and helped me clean up, and if I was too weak or tired to do it myself, he'd do it for me, sometimes going so far as to scoop me up and carry me to our (formerly his) room, tucking me in, and laying beside me until I fell asleep.

He just did it too much!!!

I had all these projects I wanted to work on and every spare moment I had to myself, he jumped right into the middle of it. While his distractions were not unwelcome…he was impeding progress! And I had begun to suspect it was on purpose. Caroline liked to smirk at me more often recently, as though she'd had a hand in Gharret's hard shift in his sex drive. I really hoped that wasn't the case, but mothers-in-law tended to be meddlesome, crafty creatures.

Even now, as I stood beside his wood throne, waiting for the elders to start filing in for the meeting, his hand crept up the back of my thigh beneath my dress and underneath my panties…

I whacked the top of his head with my notebook, giving him a swift retreat.

As he whimpered and pouted at me, the door opened, and in filed the elders, including Caroline and Vernon. I counted heads and realized that everyone was in attendance, which was a surprise given the incident last time.

"Good morning, dear~ How'd you sleep?" Caroline asked sweetly as she approached her favorite seat at the long wooden table set up before the dais. For a moment, I saw a sneaky, clever smirk cross her features before she snapped back to being her 'sweet old lady' self.

I'm onto you, woman!!!

"Quite soundly, actually," I responded with a sincere smile. Her own smile seemed to falter a little bit, but she recovered quickly with a titter and a smile.

Weren't expecting THAT, were you?! What meddling have you been doing, old lady?!

"Well…that's great to hear! It sounds like you're adjusting to life here quite well, Lady Zion~" she cooed in response, leaning a cheek into her hand in a very modest way. It almost sounded like she was disappointed.

AHAH! I KNEW IT! You've been telling him to harass me, haven't you?! You sinister, wily, conniving-

Oh. Almost forgot to mention. Many of the villagers, once they learned my name, have taken to calling me 'Lady Zion' for one reason or another. My favorites, however, still call me Princess, though that's been limited to Leigh, Vernon, and, of course…Gharret. Though Vernon started the trend, our Wolf Chief seems to have made it his own.

"Well. Now that everyone's in attendance…shall we begin?" Gharret asked as he shifted in his seat and crossed one leg delicately over the other. Watching him sit so lazily and yet so regally was…kinda…

Oop! Nope! Not going there! I slapped my cheeks briefly, then became distracted by the sound of a chair scooting and shifting. I glanced over in the direction of the elders' table to see that Vernon had stood, picked up a chair, and was now mounting the dais.

"Almost. We need a seat for the Princess, don't we?" he said, a big grin plastered to his face. With a wink, I suddenly realized, in great horror…

HE MUST BE IN ON IT!!!

Traitors! The lot of them! Augh!!!

He set the chair down gently right beside Gharret's and held out his hand for mine. A quick glance at Gharret's face ensured that he was not amused by Vernon's actions, but I placed my relatively small hand in his, regardless. He led me a couple of feet to the chair and, while holding it steady, allowed me time to sit. When I was done, he bowed a little and waited for me to extract my hand before he retreated down the dais toward his seat.

My cheeks had turned bright pink, but I smiled and chuckled at his gentlemanly nature. So sweet and kind! Ack, but I had to remember he was in on Caroline's scheme to get me killed through exhaustion…

…via sex…

"Ready," I chirped cutely at Gharret, who had still been pouting, but smiled a little as he reached over and clutched my hand.

"I rather like this arrangement, actually…" He smirked a little, but there was a softness to it.

I…squeezed his hand in return and Caroline sighed happily in our direction, which pulled me from my thoughts and made me realize we were still in public, technically. My cheeks turned a bright shade of red before I cleared my throat and withdrew my hand.

"Let's begin, then."

I flipped open my notebook and set my pen to take notes.