Coffee Break

“I hope you all like coffee!" Daglow announced, carrying in a tin campfire percolator that looked like something out of an old Earth movie about humans on horsebacks with old-timey pistols.

The solarium looked out onto the fields, which were deserted save for a few slaves still at work. The hammering and sawing going on in the hallway gave a hint as to what the slaves had been recalled to do, now that guests were here and Daglow no longer needed to continue punching holes in the house.

Uloth couldn't help but lean over the back of the blue, high-backed lounge chair he was sitting in, trying to get a glimpse of a sweat-covered Equuileian torso in the other room.

“This is made of tin, right?" Primath anxiously grabbed a metal cup from the tray his adopted brother was carrying. “Not lead or anything like that? Just tin?"

“Yeah, just like the cowboys of old drank out of, pardner," Daglow grinned, showing off his dull fangs.

“He's into cowboys now," Uloth muttered as he fished out a filter pill neatly confined in a tiny package.

“Whoa!" Daglow held up his paw, the tray shaking. “I got charcoal, you don't wanna take that poison."

“We'll stick with modern medicine, thank you," Primath popped a pill and took the tin cup in his paws.

The brew burned Primath's tongue as he sipped it. The coffee was foul, among the worst he had ever had. He didn't expect any better, one of his human employees once ranted about the history of coffee and Primath already knew that old-fashioned percolators were garbage.

Once both guests were served, Daglow sat down on a plush loveseat the color of cornflowers, wheezing as he clutched as his ribs and tried to get comfortable.

“We should call a doctor for-"

“No, no," Daglow gritted his teeth. “Nothing some rest and yoga won't fix."

“Uh-"

Daglow shushed Primath and peered over at a Vulpeculan slave who had roamed in, dragging a garbage bag behind him. The slave picked up a wastebin and dumped the contents into the bag and quietly walked out, Daglow's blue eyes watching him the entire while.

“They're always listening, you know?" Daglow sipped at his own cup of coffee, restraining the agony in his chest with all his might. “Big, tall ears. Should have replaced them all with humans, they might as well be deaf."

“Look, I know a thing or two about slaves and most of them?" Primath explained, raising his brow. “They don't care about their owner's petty dramas, they just want to get through the day and relax."

“Don't start this…" Uloth rubbed at his temple.

“Dad knew a thing or two about hierarchy and how to make use of slaves. They're always listening and reporting to someone, always!" Daglow narrowed his eyes at Uloth. “You really shouldn't keep that slave of yours so close, get rid of him!"

“What kind of Regulian would I be if I didn't have a favored slave?"

“A smart one!" Daglow looked out over the dry fields. “If I could run this place without ones, I would!"

This was a pointless conversation and both brothers knew it. There was no use spelling out the layers of hypocrisy Daglow was working on as his mind worked differently. Him being a slave that was quietly freed and adopted into the family did not give Daglow special insight or empathy towards those still in bondage, quite the contrary, if anything it made him feel extra privileged that he lucked out and got a way out with no effort. Blessed, even.

“I need to use the washroom," Uloth put his coffee down and stepped out of the solarium.

For once, Primath resented his brother leaving him. No doubt he would take his sweet tie while Daglow ranted about…

“You were smart, you got rid of your sex slave," Daglow frowned. “That bitch would have gobbled your essence out."

“What the hell are you talking about?" Primath growled.

“There are only so many erections you can get in life and every ejaculation drains you. Tick-tock, tick-tock…always counting down and-"

“I never had a concubine!" Primath objected. “Father never saw fit to bless me with such a…gift…like my other brothers."

Daglow blinked, “You were literally right next to her a week ago on the call with me."

“Valerie!?" Primath gagged, sticking his tongue out. “Father introduced her to me as a friend but we never clicked. It was nothing like-"

“Are you fucking with me right now?" Daglow leaned forward, snarling slightly. “I know you all think I'm a joke, okay, I get it, but don't make fun of me or you'll regret it."

“I'm not fucking with you! Dad bought her, introduced me to her, she hung around for a bit but we didn't really do anything and then he put her to work in the business."

“Don't you think it's at all weird that both your brothers got concubines at the same time you were introduced to a friend like it was a playdate? How old were you two again?"

“I…" Primath cleared his throat, “...I guess you might have a point but it would have been wrong to take advantage of her."

“She probably wanted it, steal your essence and get a t'Osgar under her spell. Besides, she went right to fucking dad."

“Come on, we joke about that but-"

Daglow tapped his large black nose, “You have no idea how much of a curse this nose is. The things I've smelled on them…"

“Okay, enough!" Primath stood up and huffed. “Where the hell is Uloth? I'm gonna go find him."

Daglow said nothing, just continued to sip his coffee and stare out the window as Primath exited.

The hallway was full of burly Equuileians setting replacement floorboards down and hammering them into place. Primath, ever in touch with the plight of the weak and powerless of society, exchanged some relevant jokes with a bunch of them before asking about his brother's whereabouts, upon which he got nothing more than shrugs.

After entering into the foyer, Primath quickly decided he didn't want to find his brother after all and now would be an excellent time to search for information.

Turning left and slipping up a narrow staircase leading to the upper floor's residences, Primath began to use his nose as Daglow would, sniffing for traces of Lupiad odor which was thankfully easy to trace due to Daglow's recent belief that showering was bad for one's health.

Down the hall and towards the master bedroom the smell went. Father's domain, taken over by the adopted son.

Primath put his paws on the double-doors and with a click, slid the doors open so as to not make so much as a creak. There was tension on the door that made his gentle push oddly difficult, getting caught when it was just a small crack open. With a sigh, Primath pressed his shoulder against the door and shoved.

Only as a faint snap caught Primath's ears did he notice that there was a wire in front of the door on the inside by the floor and it had just been tripped.

Bracing himself for the explosive results of Daglow's paranoia, Primath shut his eyes, fearing for the worst. Instead of his life going out with a bang, Primath felt a gentle mist spray across his face, slathering him with a foul odor of rotten eggs.

Opening his eyes, Primath saw a spray bottle mounted on the doorframe above him, the remains of the wire tied around its nozzle. With a snarl, Primath shut off the trap and barged his way into the bedroom. There was no hiding any of this from Daglow now, so why bother?

The room looked unfamiliar to Primath. He hadn't been to the farm in quite some time but the changes had been quite dramatic. Father's master bed, covered with silk sheets and curtained off with drapes of yellow, was the only familiar decoration. Ivy clung to the walls, real ivy, hanging from hydroponics that were mounted on the upper parts of the walls. A gym mat was on the floor and posters showing yoga instructions with the outline of a Lupiad twisting himself into knots were all over the walls.

All that mattered was the bed. Daglow could literally piss over every inch of the place and pretend it was his palace, but Primath knew at least one of Father's hiding places.

Primath got down on all fours, brushed aside the skirt of the bed, and felt along the cloth matting beneath the box spring. He had no idea what laid there, but he had seen his Father mess around with it before and…

Something solid bounced in Primath's paw beyond the covering, like a child on a trampoline. Unsheathing his claws, Primath slit a hole into the box spring and something thick slapped onto the palm of his paw.

It was an envelope stuffed to the limits with papers. The corners had holes worn into it, giving a preview as to the rough, ancient papers that lay within and small glimpses of quick and dirty handwriting.

“Jackpot," Primath grinned as he saw the word 'dirt' on the cover in Old Regulian. Something not even the most educated of slaves could read.

Typical of Daglow, tearing up the floorboards but he doesn't check right under his nose.

Primath stuffed the envelope into the crotch of his swim trunks and made a beeline for the exit, but not before his datapad began to vibrate angrily.

“Shit, what now…"

As soon as Primath had the door shut behind him and was back into the hall, he took out the pad and answered it.

“Hey," Quroth's voice came through the speakers. The video output was black, “are you alone?"

“Yeah, I'm at Haven. Uloth is here too, but I'm alone."

“It's him," Quroth whispered, “you gotta believe me, it's him."

“Who?"

“Uloth," Quroth's teeth were chattering, “Valerie is setting him up to be the interim CEO, maybe the forever one that she can rule through."

“Are you high?"

“Fuck off!" Quroth sniffed harshly. “Look, I just needed something to take the edge off, but this shit is stressful. Valerie thinks I'm on her side! I spent a week trying to get a hold of you! Why the fuck weren't you answering!?"

“Doesn't matter, put your video on."

“No, I look like shit right now."

“I bet you do, I can fucking smell you through the pad," Primath winced, even though there was no doubt thanks to Daglow's trap that he smelled worse. “I'm not listening unless you talk to me face to face."

The video suddenly flickered to life. Quroth's mane and fur were unbrushed and his pupils were large and round. He did not even bother to hide the syringe on the bed behind him.

“Make you feel like a big guy now?" Quroth looked over to the side, growning in contempt. The sclera of his eyes were blood-red. “Try answering your fucking datapad and not leaving me hanging, panicking about what to fucking do! I'm trying to work with you, you ungrateful fuck!"

“Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Primath peered down the hall, no one was creeping at the staircase yet. “It's been a tough trip. What are you proposing?"

“We need to get something on Uloth, some real dirt that would make him poison as a nomination. I know dad had something, think about it? Uloth's the golden military boy, the most bog-standard traditional Regulian, no public embarrassments, no drug scandals…why did dad never give him more?"

“Might have a point," Primath rubbed at the envelope pressed against his crotch. “I haven't uncovered anything yet, aside from more concerning behavior from Daglow."

“Fuck that guy," Quroth snarled. “He'd sell out to Valerie just for a share of the farm or the right to continue playing make-believe."

“He bought an ice meteor using government subsidies."

“What!?

“Not really anything the family can't take care of but we could probably isolate him using that. I got some connections in Prosecution, if we squeeze enough fines out of him we might be able to buy out his seat on the board."

“Devious," Quroth whistled, “and who did you have in mind for CEO?"

“Me."

“The soft brother shows his claws," Quroth pressed a finger to his nostril and sniffed. “Not gonna consider me for a sec?"

“Name the post you want and I'll get it for you."

“Head of Communications."

A do-nothing role with a high salary…

“You support me and I'll get you that."

“Just get that dirt on Uloth, it's gotta be there somewhere."

“I'm working on it," Primath rubbed at his crotch again. “Good talk, brother."

“Good talk."

The screen flicked off and Primath tucked his datapad away.

Tugging open his trunks, Primath looked down at the envelope leaning against his sheath.

What could you have on him, indeed?

“Be gentle…"

The brown Equuileian snorted, spitting off to the side.

“Captive like you? You got no right to ask for anything."

The slave quarters were empty, save for the Equuileian and his prey. The gates were open, it was still the working day and not lights-out, beds of hay and chains, both decorative and practice, were all over the place. The owner of the pens liked things nice and old, traditional. Sure as hell didn't believe in comfort for the working slave.

“Please…"

“Nah…" the Equuileian stroked his log-like cock, dappled with pink and black skin, “...you're not a proud officer anymore, you're just a slave."

Slave.

That word bristled the captive's fur and made his skin shiver. He could not help but lift his rear in response to this wave of dominance.

“Regulians…" the Equuileian stepped forward, hooves pounding into the hard floor, “...you're all just bitches in the end, aren't you?"

“Yes…"

“I claim you in the name of my clan…"

A thick cock pressed against the captive's rear, forcing him to wince and lash his tail helplessly.

“And in Logos' name."

“Yes…" the captive moaned, “...I surrender the Empire to you…"

The cock slipped with deceptive ease. It was far from the first time the captive had taken cock up his ass. His captor had been kind enough to lubricate him, so kind, but despite the immense girth of the Equuileian's flared cock there was a good chance it would have slipped in without any.

“I, Colonel Uloth t'OSgar, surrender to Logos…"

The Equuileian thrust hard, forcing Uloth to squeal like a Vulpeculan in heat. He grit his teeth and dug his claws into the bedframe the Equuileian had him bent over.

“Your new name is…" the Equuileiean thrust and leaned across Uloth's back, until his long face was next to his ear, “...Grasscollar…"

“Grasscollar…" Uloth's face burned, “...thank you, master…"

The Equuileian, one of his father's farm-slaves, began pounding in rapid succession, sweat rolling down his muscular torso. Precum leaked out of Uloth's ass as he squeezed his rear together and flexed his toes, scratching his claws against the floorboards.

“Yes, yes…" Uloth whined, “...take me…"

Turning his head to the side, Uloth looked at his datapad, which was propped up on a table against the wall. Snow, his own slave and master, was watching from the video camera, stroking his own large, pink cock.

“Slap him on the rear," Snow ordered.

The Equuileian obeyed, giving Uloth a heavy slap. Uloth yelped with joy and could see that Snow was stroking himself with great pleasure.

If Snow is happy, I'm happy…

Pain and joy welled up in Uloth's rear. Equuileians were powerful and large, but they came fast, something Uloth loved about them. He didn't want to wait to be claimed, he wanted all of the domination all at once.

Warmth shot into Uloth just as his own cock spurted onto the hay bed beneath him. His tongue lolled out as he cried for joy.

“You are mine…" the slave whispered into Uloth's ear, “...nothing more than a drone of Logos now…"

Primath looked over the notes with shock. There was a lot of dirt that Father had kept on the siblings, but he had quickly managed to find Uloth's notes and although he was not entirely surprised by the contents, he was still taken aback by seeing his Father's handwriting spell it out.

“Takes it up the ass."

“Fantasizes about aliens conquering him."

“Fantasizes about LOGOS brainwashing him."

Primath didn't really care about any of these, as far as he was concerned anyone could fantasize about anything, even Lacertans. While the law about making sexual content in any way showing Lacertans at all or suggesting Logos domination had been relaxed thanks to the Lacertans being extinct now and Logos' nodes destroyed, this was still a major taboo.

Of course, so was taking it up the ass by a lesser, but that was more difficult to make a public deal of it. Regulian society frowned on bottoming in such a way but at the same time it was considered just as shameful to publicly out someone as doing that. It was the culture's way of maintaining peace and trying to avoid talking about the subject.

Most concerningly, these were just words. The public did not particularly care for Grand Duke Aloth t'Osgar Jr. The progressives thought he was archaic and an out of touch CEO who pretended to be the engineering genius that his father was. The conservatives thought he was unsupportive of the wartime government to a point where the Claw investigated him.

Worse yet, the Claw were controlling the current Emperor and they despised him. Aloth backed the Royal Guards in the power struggle for inheritance and he had lost, the Claw would not forget that.

As such, mere words were not enough if he was going to ruin his brother's reputation. He needed harder proof. This was not the killing blow but it was a step towards it.

Once that was done and Primath was CEO…there was so much to be done. Gradual emancipation of all company slaves, revising hiring policies to be less discriminatory, fair wages for all employees…it could be done. He could make it happen, no, he would make it happen.

There was a knock at the guest bedroom door and Primath quickly slid the papers underneath his sheets. He would have to read the rest later, including his own dossier.

“Come in."

Daglow peeked in and sniffed, instantly frowning.

“You broke into my bedroom."

“I went into my Father's bedroom," Primath growled back. He had tried to wash the smell out of his fur from the trap but he knew it would not be enough. “Didn't think you'd have rigged it."

“Slaves steal all sorts of things, can't let them in there," Daglow narrowed his eyes. “Are you a slave?"

“What?"

“Did you steal anything?"

“No."

“Good," Daglow smiled. “I already checked and double-checked, so I knew…but I wanted to hear it."

You stupid, unperceptive moron. Did you even check under the bed?

“Even if I did, this is the family house, I have a right to it."

“Right…"

Daglow stared at Primath when the latter was trying to get back to his fantasies, refusing to leave him alone.

“Are you going to leave?"

“Oh, by the way…" Daglow grinned, “...you bought something at the souvenir store? I got an alert we made a sale for the first time in…wow, I don't even remember."

“Yeah, I did, so?"

“Well, that reminded me that the store was supposed to be closed down a year ago due to lack of profitability, so I took care of that."

Primath's skin went cold.

“You closed it down?"

“Yeah, reassigned the worker there to hard labor. Very hard labor. Thanks for helping me plug up financial dead-ends, brother."

The door finally closed and Primath was left alone with nothing more than his thoughts.

And his thoughts were about to lash him verbally from now until dawn, granting him not a moment of sleep free from being admonished for his stupidity.