Liira knew she had to be careful. It wasn’t as if she could just walk up to people throughout the castle and ask “do you remember me and my siblings having been men?” That seemed like a great way for her to wind up locked in a chamber “for her own safety” if they didn’t, after all. So she decided the best way of testing what those around her knew was simply to interact with them. Clearly her new “sisters” didn’t seem aware of what had happened, but if anyone else was there would have been a panic gripping the castle that would have been hard to ignore.
So Liira wandered the castle grounds, speaking to the guards and servants she passed. The servants universally seemed worried when she’d stopped them and asked to talk; their genuine surprise and happiness when she’d asked about how they and their families were left Liira embarrassed. When she’d been Liiran she’d never much thought about the servants; they were just there, and their whole jobs were to serve her, so who cared what they thought? Liira had a whole new perspective now, and it increasingly made her realize just how unjust her family’s behavior had been.
But none of the servants seemed at all surprised, or concerned, by her appearance. She learned quite a bit about gossip around the castle—what “improvements” her father had ordered to the designs; which concubines had recently become pregnant; which servants enjoyed their work, and which aspired to a higher position; but nothing about her or the others’ transformation. Either the servants were wonderful actors, and they didn’t have any memory of them being boys.
The guards were a similar story. If anything, Liira quickly tired of the way they stared at her breasts. Frankly, she thought angrily after another “conversation” with a pair of guards who had spent the whole time staring at her breasts, none of them seemed smart enough to be able to successfully pull off an convincing acting job. They were clearly just as unaware as everyone else.
She wondered if her father knew what had happened. No one she’d talked to had seen him all day. She was sure that if he was aware he was already working on a spell to turn her and her sisters back into men….but Liira knew she was at the bottom of the priority list for that.
Antyny, for his part, was lying in a secluded chamber, off from the main royal bedrooms. A dark haired girl lay cuddled up next to him, passed out after they’d spent the last few hours having sex. A second girl, who looked near identical to the first, was likewise passed out on the other side of Antyny. The king smiled to himself. Bria and Liss had been a very male pair of twin brothers, famous thieves who’d been operating in the capital for years. Evidently their ambition had overstretched their common sense, and they’d made an attempt to make off with some of the royal treasury. Antyny had ensured against such thievery, of course, and as soon as they’d entered the treasury their lust for wealth had become a lust for men, their bodies’ transforming to match their new desires.
He’d spent the day with his new concubines, and the pleasure of their actions had distracted him from what was going on in the castle, but now that he had finished…..he could sense something was wrong. The air just felt off, as if a massive amount of magic—far more than had been used to create Bria and Liss—had been created. Antyny frowned, and was about to rise from the bed, when a knocking came at the chamber door. “Enter!” He called.
Sheyric, his chief guard, entered and bowed. “Your highness, the men your daughters are to be betrothed to have arrived. You asked me to let you know so you could greet them in private first.”
Antyny’s mind raced. Daughters? He had no daughters. Something was very wrong. He rose from the bed and walked over to Sheyric. The man seemed to have no idea anything was wrong. “My daughters and their betrothed?” Antyny asked. “Yes, your highness.” Sheyric said. “The men are waiting for you in a private room.”
Antyny nodded to himself. It might take a bit of work, but he could fix the situation. He followed Sheyric out of the room, already planning…..