The Tower: Happily Ever After

Exchange of Power

Thanks to the attack on the city, Billy and Teddy's bonding ceremony was pushed back a few months. There was too much damage to the palace's courtyard to allow the people in to witness the bonding and too much of the resources were going into repairing things. The boys were disappointed, but they understood - it wasn't like a couple of months was that big of a deal when it meant forever together. The people wanted to have a feast to celebrate Asgard's defeat of the usurper to the crown. That wasn't particularly easy either given the state of the palace, so until a feast could happen properly, the family just did a parade through the city and stopped in the square to give out supplies to anyone who might need them. Thankfully, the damage had mostly been contained to the palace so there weren't too many of the citizens who needed the assistance. Most just came to see us and celebrate the victory.

I had noticed a shift in the way we were seen. Or at least how I felt like the people viewed me specifically. In the past, it felt like I was a novelty because I was alien and because I had given birth to Riley. I was the mother of the heir first, Thor's chosen second, and everything else came in behind that. Now when they spoke to me, I was Lady Elise, vanquisher of Cul and soother of the great Hulk. I was being seen as an asset to Asgard outside of the fact that I was weirdly fertile.

I didn't exactly think I was lacking confidence as a person before. At least not most of the time, but I definitely lacked confidence in my role as queen. I wasn't a huge fan of the fact I was one of the heads of a monarchy now in the first place, but to be one when I wasn't even from Asgard didn't help. Now, I'd shown that no matter what else, I could step up and protect Asgard and its people.

With my newfound confidence and feeling of power and the delays to most of the big family events, I decided it was time to give Steve a little chance at role reversal with me. Even though Steve and I regularly didn't participate in any powerplay with sex, and even though I definitely considered myself a switch, I was a little nervous about it. I had never been particularly dominant with him. So I took Sam with me. I knew Natasha wanted to join me, but I worried with her there I'd let her take complete control, and rather than it being us working together to dominate Steve, I'd just end up being used as a tool to dominate Steve. Which - while exciting in its own right, wasn't what I wanted out of this. With Sam, I could be whatever I needed to be and I knew he'd take control sometimes and defer control. We had that kind of back and forth anyway so I felt safe with him in this role, and I knew that Steve felt safe with him in that role too.

We went down to the orgy rooms again. Our chambers were still being repaired and I didn't want to use Natasha's dungeon, so those rooms seemed to be a good compromise. I was just looking at myself in the mirror, taking a deep breath as I steadied my nerves. The vintage look black lace corset, and boyleg panties, that I'd paired with thigh-high lace-up boots was not something I was completely unused to but definitely wasn't in my usual getup. It came from Natasha's color-coded wardrobe and mixed something Bucky liked seeing me in, with something Clint liked. I'd tied my hair back in a high ponytail, and done my makeup with kohl eyeshadow and bright red lips.

"Fuck you look sexy," Sam said coming up behind me. "Steve's waiting for you. He's already got that slight dazed fuzzy look. It doesn't take him much to sink into that really pliant state. Be careful with him."

"I will," I said and turned to look at him. He looked pretty fucking hot himself in black jeans and a leather harness with a silver ring that sat right in the middle of his chest. I wrapped my fingers around the straps that ran up his chest. "God, you're hot."

"I know," Sam joked. "Come on, if we leave him waiting too long he'll start panicking."

I picked up my riding crop and strode out into the other room, my heels clicking on the tile floor.