Celebrations with Cersei (R18+)

Item-M's flattened chest swelled with pride. She dropped to her knees, her head almost touching the musty, planked floor.

-/You are right,/- he told her. -/But I know even you haven't figured out the complete answer. It's OK. This is not a gap you could bridge with experience. It needs someone like me. I can see the requirement of Jet Wing clearly, despite not having the Stats and the Elementary Archery. It means Eon Soul Dew requires not Ability, Skills, and Stats, but it requires me to have an Item or any other external object. The same must be valid for my two Blood Essences Skills that show the question mark. It all comes down to figuring out what is it they want of me./-

Item-M stood up and brooded over Kai's words with the utmost concentration. Kai nodded to himself upon seeing that. If he wanted her to take his reasoning at his words only, then he might as well have thrown her off the ship and be done with her. He did not need lickspittle servants who couldn't think for themselves.

Ignoring the old hag, Kai lifted the bow in his left hand. His right hand was on the bowstring as if he was holding the arrow. He breathed in, lifting the bow, and then pressed the air within his lungs downward towards his dantian as he pulled the bowstring, stiffening his stomach. Veins popped up on his face, hands, waist and back. The wooden floor under his feet creaked menacingly. The more he pulled, the more his brows pressed together. And just when his entire body shook, a fatal tremble running down from his head to toe, he let go of it.

The twang was alive.

It rocked the entire ship, deafened the ears, and the mirrors shattered. The windowpanes rippled as if they were sheets of water. Kai's knees buckled, and he fell, sweat drenching his back, and the headache now booming and bombarding his skull.

'37%,' Kai noted, the number disappearing from his vision. 'So it's not only Strength that decides the ultimate value of pull. Reasonable. If Strength was the only deciding factor, then the value should have bordered 50% logically.' But Kai had expected that it must be a combined outcome of all the four Stats mentioned in the requirement.

He let go of the bow, and it flew back towards Item-M, who stored it in her Inventory. Kai pushed himself up and stumbled back to the chair, clutching his head. Even his sight was getting blurry from all the pain. Wine. He needed more wine, Kai reasoned. The entire jug left the table, and he downed it, putting his mouth on the brim.

"Are you alright, master?" Item-M asked after some time. "I still have major issues to discuss which we have been postponing for quite some time. You know, regarding Occlumency and your next mission."

Kai heard her. His face was red beyond redness, and if it wasn't for his ever-watchful instincts, he would have lost the sense of passing time, either. -/I know,/- he grumbled, heavily boozed. -/Later, Item-M. Later. Let us revel this evening and drink to the birth of White Serpent Pirates./-

Item-M frowned. 'This is quite unlike him,' she must have thought. 'He never let himself get carried away by anything and anyone. Alcohol? Celebration? What's going on?'

"As you say, master," she finally said, permitting herself a smile. "A night of celebration won't do us any harm, I agree."

She fetched another cask and filled Kai's jug and a mug for herself. Their drinks clinked as they cheered, wine spilling, and both were about to drink when Kai suddenly paused. -/Wait,/- he said. -/Let me bring out Cersei. We need her for the Blood Prophecy later, anyway./-

"Is it necessary, master?" Item-M blurted. "Surely it can wait…"

Item-M was about to say more when her eyes caught the murderous glint in Kai's eyes. She gulped.

Kai chuckled drunkenly. -/Yes, it is necessary,/- he told her. -/The more the merrier, right?/- A black book appeared in his hand as he flicked it casually. He opened the page to the Lioness of Casterly Rock and used the Skill, Primordial Theater.

The smoky veil parted, and she walked out with the nobility that suited no one but a queen.

She was wearing a long, red freckled frock that brought out the green of her eyes. Her golden hair billowed with every step, and her two long earrings shine like tears of gold.

Her face was stone.

She was not pleased, he could tell. For too long, he had ignored her, Kai knew. She was an Item too, much like Selene, Item-M, and Petyr. But each of his Items has a quirk that he tolerated. Selene's hunger, and now her insanity, Petyr's jests, Item-M's bluntness, and Cersei, well in her case, her entire existence.

She looked at them both, the jug in Kai's hand, the mug in Item-M's, and the open cask of wine on the table. "Finally recalled me, heh!" she said icily.

Kai smiled. -/I know, Cersei./- he told her. -/I know what's on your mind. But there was no point in going to Red Keep without upgrading the book, you know that./-

Cersei's face suddenly became gentle. "You remembered…" she mumbled.

-/Of course,/- Kai guffawed. -/I haven't confirmed your guesses, but I know they are onto something. Yours will be the first tale I would upgrade. I promise./-

It was Cersei who had brought Kai's attention to the fact that his Luck seemed to be affected by an external factor. Before that moment, Kai had blamed himself and his past for it. And though her guess of Hastur being behind his utterly ridiculous Luck was yet to come true, Kai didn't question any longer if his Luck had been indeed tampered with or not. Item-M too agreed with it, despite not accepting Hastur's involvement in it.

'Two Passive Attributes like Worth and Luck can't be so far from each other at two extremities,' Item-M had concluded. 'An above-average Luck could have been normal, but 2 Luck and 100 Worth? It is as… as that soulless creature, Cersei, told you, master. Something is incongruous about all this, I am afraid.'

-/Now come,/- Kai beckoned. -/Join me. You must know what we are celebrating, right?/-

Cersei nodded. She approached the table, and both Item-M and she stared at each other, the air between them thundering ethereally in a stand-off. Kai amused himself by looking at them, knowing well that Cersei was aware of his naked checkup by Item-M.

Cersei sneered. "This look suits you," she said to Item-M, who hadn't budged from her seat. "Old bats should look like old bats."

Item-m said nothing. She narrowed her eyes, then turned her head to look at Kai, her expression thoughtful. Suddenly, she stood up. "Very well," she said slyly. "Last time you served us, this time I will do the same."

Cersei scoffed and sat down on the chair as if it was a throne.

Kai nodded to himself. -/Serve Cersei wine, Item-M,/- He said. -/Let us toast to our name, the White Serpent Pirates./-

Kai lifted the jug, and both Item-M and Cersei lifted their mugs along with him, their wine threatening to splash out. When the drink was finished, Kai ordered Item-M to refill them all.

-/This toast to our flag,/- They downed this one as well, and only the sound of wine sloshing down their throat could be heard for a few moments. Kai's face was now cherry red. Item-M looked befuddled, and Cersei's face had become soft pink.

'She can handle her wine,' Kai observed.

He lifted the cask using telekinesis and refilled their drinks. Kai had been delaying this night for a long time. But after meeting the Faceless, he decided to not wait further. This night was already destined to be a momentous one. -/This toast to my servants; my Items./-

They drank again. The colors were now melting into Kai's eyes. And along with the ship, the entire world seemed to roll and pitch.

But one more toast he needed to have. So he emptied the wine cask into his jug, and Item-M and Cersei's mug.

-/This toast to you, Cersei./-

He drank alone this time. Both Item-M and Cersei gaped at him, their drinks stopping on the way to their mouths.

Kai slammed the jug on the table and lifted his hand to rub his temples. His eyes landed on Cersei then, who slowly finished her drink, staring back at him.

-/She is beautiful,/- Kai thought aloud and telepathically, not caring for them to hear. His eyes ran down from her eyes, briefly resting on her wet lips before resuming their way down her neckline and her breasts. -/Be a good girl and massage my head./- Cersei slowly stood up, holding the table for balance, her body swaying with the ship. She approached him with little deliberate steps and was about to go behind Kai's chair when he caught her wrist and pulled her. She landed on his lap, gasping.

Her heart was pounding, and so was Kai's.

She put one hand around his neck to steady herself and with the other rubbed his head, using her long fingers gently.

-/If only we had some music,/- Kai mumbled. He stared at her face, realizing that even while drunk, she was every bit prideful. Arrogance, power, and obsession were spilling out of her eyes like dense, foaming waterfalls.

-/The day will come,/- Kai proclaimed the right words, -/when you will be called Queen Cersei Lannister./-

Cersei trembled, her eyes burning, and her breath breaking out of rhythm. She was drunk on wine before, and now she was drunk on his words. And, yes. On Kai as well.

The grip of her hand around his neck tightened, and her face closed on him. Close and closer, until Kai could feel her breath. And then her lips were on his. Kai let go of the jug of wine and held her as they kissed.

The wine was sweet and smelled thick with spices.

Cersei's tongue had a taste of its own. Unique and mouthwatering. Long she let him savor that flavor, and it lingered in his mouth even when she had taken it out.

Their lips parted, and they looked at each other, their passion for each other shooting through the roof. Then they came back for more. Now fiercer and more aggressive. If first, they were snogging like teenage couples, then now they were devouring each other.

She moved her waist erotically, rubbing her entire weight on his lap. Kai bit her lips. Their moans and panting engulfed the cabin like smoke. Kai's hand tightened on her waist and ran down, feeling the sweaty curves under her frock. Cersei's mouth left his for a rare breath, and then it went for his ear. Her tongue felt hot and moist as she licked it, and a shiver ran down his spine. His member trembled like a rod, bulging against her hips. She giggled. Kai's hands found her breasts, turning the giggle into a stifled moan. She retaliated by biting at his earlobe, and then her hand went down, fumbling for an opening in his pants.

The spell of their mutual lust for each other was heavy over them.

Item-M suddenly coughed.

The spell broke.

Kai's hand grasped Cersei's hand, the tips of her fingers already feeling his girth.

She snapped her head at Item-m, her eyes throwing a thousand murderous daggers. Then she looked back at Kai. She felt offended, he could tell. He pulled her hand out of his pants and then kissed her gently on the lips.

"I am almost a woman." She told Kai when they parted. "If I had married at this age, my marriage would have already been consummated."

Kai pushed aside the sweaty locks from her face. -/Almost a woman, but not a woman,/- He whispered, taking a deep breath. -/You know my preference. I look at you, and I recall your older self, Cersei. Can you blame me? It is as if your beauty knows no bounds of time, ever-growing with your age. Not even the sweetest, costliest, and the rarest of wine ages like you, I think./-

That made her smile.

-/We have celebrated enough for one night,/- He told her, grabbing her waist, and easily lifting her off him. -/ Now go on, do your duty. Let's see what the future has in store for us./-

Cersei didn't like it, he could see it on her face. The disgusting look she passed at Item-M reflected her thoughts plain enough. Kai passed the book to Item-M, who had already cut her finger. Cersei begrudgingly held her wrist, looked over her shoulder to see Kai, and then put the Item-M's finger in her mouth.

Kai was smiling, but the moment Item-M went into a trance and Cersei disappeared, his flushed face became an ancient block of ice. The lust in his eyes ran away, his pounding heart gradually calmed down, and his dry throat found wetness soon enough.

Only the smile on his face persisted. But unlike before, when it had looked like a smile of remembrance, desire, and passion, now it was nigh impossible to tell its nature. From one angle, it seemed as if he was smirking victoriously, and from the other, it seemed he was sneering.

But one thing was sure, no one, not even the Faceless men, could tell what the meaning and intention behind this smile, and Kai knew it.

'Thousand Tales Parasite,' he thought, cackling evilly in his mind. 'I wonder what you are writing now?'

*********

AN: It all started with Chapter 119, Kai kissing Cersei suddenly. Since then, if not entirely, Kai's behavior and actions had experienced a subtle change regarding her. I will not explain more, as everything will be cleared in the last chapter of this volume, but let me ask some questions to help you forward.

Why Kai suddenly decided to become intimate with Cersei after refusing her advances for so long? Why Kai related his actions and interactions with the book's characters to the Thousand Tales Parasite? Why Kai not doing the same with Petyr?

All will be answered in the last chapter by the characters themselves.