Page 40 of Queen Isabella

Isa held her arms out and Diligen began creating some sort of top, by simply wrapping the fabric around her the way he had the skirt.

“Everyone here may join us. We can invite Artifex, too,” Phara announced with an excited smile.

“Sounds good.” She nodded, looking forward to it, since she hadn’t seen daylight or the planet’s surface.

“What did you and Artifex do while I was out?” Bellator inquired.

Isa blushed and her gaze darted to Phara.

“I found Artifex in the preparatory trussing our queen up like acapohe hunted in the forest,” Phara declared.

Oh my gawd!She wasn’t sure why she thought he’d have some polite response. The Vorto were proving they didn’t possess a filter and didn’t sugar coat a single thing, either.

“What?!” Bellator growled, looking toward the door like he might hunt Artifex down.

Isa startled at his angry response. “Whoa!” She held up her hands, then glared at Phara. “You better tell him you helped Artifex with that.”

“I did.” Phara grinned, undisturbed by Bellator’s outburst. “Our queen needs to learn to let us take care of her. She tried to drink a bowl ofqua.”

Bellator grimaced, and his accusatory gaze turned on her.

Her mouth dropped open and she pointed at Phara. “You tell him the rest!”

“That you sampled some of our food?” Phara cocked his head, feigning ignorance.

Phara was seriously going to play dumb about the naughty kitchen escapades. He and Artifex were both rotten instigators. Isa rolled her eyes to the ceiling, and Phara started laughing.

“My queen, I think this is the best I can do for this rotation,” Diligen announced, effectively changing the subject. He then unwrapped her hair, running his fingers through it before stepping back.

Isa looked down and smiled at the bright skirt and the crisscross halter top, which was reminiscent of beach wear. The way he wrapped the skirt, her poochie belly was hardly noticeable, and she grinned. Isa did a little bounce and her boobs stayed in the makeshift fabric cups crossing over them. Many of her bras weren’t capable of that feat.

“You’re a genius, Diligen!” she declared.

“My queen!” Diligen gasped, dropped to the floor, and turned into a puddle of goo.

Oh no! What did I say?Her mouth dropped open, her gaze darting to Phara and Bellator.

“He’s overwhelmed by your praise,” Bellator chuckled.

“The feast is ready,” Artifex announced, then stopped and looked down at Diligen, still a puddle of plasm at her feet.

“Isa told him she liked her coverings,” Phara summarized for him.

“Ah. Yes, very nice.” Artifex’s gaze slid up her body. “For some reason the coverings make me more interested in seeing what’s beneath them even though I’ve seen it.”

“Agreed. I want to tear them off of her.” Bellator released a lusty growl.

“I think lifting up the wrap around her hips would be sufficient,” Phara added with a rakish grin.

The triplets nodded in agreement. The whole lot of them were nothing but hormones.

“I heard something about a feast.” She laughed and incredulously rolled her eyes as she sauntered past Artifex toward the exit.

She didn’t have to turn around to know that all eyes were on her. She could feel them, from the way the hair on the back of her neck stood up and her nipples stiffened. She may have acted put-out, but there was something very satisfying about capturing their interest. People back home would’ve called it vanity, but there was nothing wrong with feeling good about yourself, about feeling desired. The clamor of footsteps behind her made her grin widen.

“My queen, let me escort you.” Phara came up on her right side and looped his arm around her waist.

“I organized the Bonding Feast so I believe it should be my honor.” Artifex hooked his arm through her left one.

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