Trust In Love: A Love Mark Romance

by Linda Kage

Gulping, I heaved in a great breath before helplessly complying.

  I bent down and took the crown from the floor before lifting it slowly to my head.

  35

  Farrow

  The Donnellean army arrived two days later. In all actuality, it was fairly anticlimactic.

  Far Shore soldiers waited at the city limits for them, lining the roadways to provide a royal escort for such honored guests that led their commander straight to the castle’s entrance.

  Urban Bjorn, leader of the Donnelly troops, looked puzzled and suspicious as hell, glancing around him as if he expected an attack any moment even as he strode forward to meet me, where I stood awaiting his arrival at the door to the throne room. When he recognized who I was, his scowl grew.

  “You!” he boomed as he grabbed the front of my tunic and yanked me against him so he could snarl directly into my face. “This whole mess is your fault?” He shook me harshly, rattling my teeth. “You fucking punk. I should’ve let Brentley execute you that night Nicolette begged me to save your miserable life.”

  “Be that as it may,” I offered mildly. “What’s done is done, so…” I lifted a bored eyebrow. “If you’ll kindly release me, my lord…” I brushed off his hands. “I believe we can sort out this whole mess, as you call it, in very short order.”

  He dropped me back to the ground even as he seethed. “I don’t want to hear any lies from you. Just give us back Princess Nicolette. If she’s been kept comfortable and unharmed, I might elect to show you mercy.”

  “Oh, you seek the princess?” Placing a hand over my heart, I cringed and made myself look full of remorse as I answered, “I’m sorry, then, but I regret to inform you that the princess of Donnelly is no more.”

  Face immediately draining of color, Urban tripped a step back. “What? She—” Shaking his head in a panic, he had trouble swallowing before he gritted his teeth, making the cords in his neck strain. Then he growled, “No. She’s not. The fuck you say! You people wouldn’t kill her without hearing our bargaining terms first. Nicolette can’t be dead.”

  When he reached for me again, I knew he would legit attack until one of us was dead, so I slyly sidestepped him and decided to have mercy from the spot of fun I was having.

  “No,” I said. “You’re absolutely right. She isn’t.”

  Fumbling to a confused halt, he cocked his head curiously. “Huh?”

  “Nicolette’s not dead,” I clarified. “We would never do that to our finest treasure.”

  “Then, what the hell are you saying?” he finally demanded. “Where is she?”

  A proud grin lit my face. Reaching behind me, I opened the door to the throne room and splayed out a hand, inviting him to enter as I backed into the hall. “Why, she’s in here, of course.” With a regal bow of my head, I announced, “It is my greatest honor to introduce to you the newest ruler of Far Shore, Queen Nicolette from House Donnelly. And princess no more.”

  He jarred to a stunned stop, gaping baldly before he exploded, “Excuse me?”

  From behind me, a familiar voice exclaimed joyfully from the back side of the room where she sat on the throne. “Urban!”

  Recognizing her voice, Urban zapped his gaze to her, blinking as he took in the sight before him.

  Nicolette waved an exuberant greeting from where she sat on the large throne. With Indigo standing to her right, just behind her chair, Roloff lingering at her left, a whole host of knights and dignitaries positioned against the walls on either side of the hall as they guarded her, and the royal crown of Far Shore topping her head, there was no doubt whatsoever that she was indeed the ruler here.

  “Jesus, God, Nicolette,” Urban breathed in relief when she popped up from her seat, leaped off the dais, and started racing toward him. “Thank fuck you’re okay.” He rushed forward and caught her in his arms, squeezing her tight when she laughed in happy greeting. Then he picked her up and spun her in a circle. “We were all so worried about you. I was sure I’d get here too late and find you—”

  When he cut himself off, appearing tormented by the mere idea of her distress, I realized the man truly did care about my mate.

  “Yes, well…” She grinned bashfully and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. I frowned, watching her curiously, and wondered if she had some hero-worship going on when it came to this man. “For a while, it was a little touch and go,” she admitted, glancing impishly my way. “I wasn’t always sure we would make it, but—”

  “Please, no.” Urban held up a hand, shaking his head and stopping her. “My heart can’t take hearing how close you might’ve come to harm. You’re like a sister—no, closer to a daughter—to me, for God’s sake. Stories of you in peril might send me to an early grave.”

  Her return smile was affectionate. “They’re pretty crazy stories, too.”

  “Yeah...” He shook his head in awe and glanced around the throne room. “I can tell.” Then he sniffed. “Fucking Queen of Far Shore, huh?” Lifting his eyebrows in part amusement, part pride, and part exasperation, he said, “Just what have you gotten yourself into this time, kiddo?”

  “I swear,” she started, holding up her hand like a scolded child. “I didn’t mean to overthrow a kingdom and take their crown. It just kind of…” With a helpless shrug, she sent him a rueful cringe. “Happened.”

  A Fortnight Later

  The queen was waiting in my bed for me when I retired for the night.

  Instead of turning her away, as I had the last one, I let a slow murmur of masculine pride take over.

  “Your Majesty,” I murmured in greeting, loving how those words sounded when I applied them to her. “To what do I bestow this honor?”

  She groaned, still flabbergasted by such a title. “Oh, no. Not you, too. In this room, on this bed, under these covers, I will only ever be Nicolette to you. Got it?”

  Chuckling, I stripped out of my clothes with the speed of a man who hadn’t bedded his woman since the night before. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”

  “Brat,” she teased, rolling her eyes, only to hum out her appreciation when I dropped my trousers, and my naked erection captured her attention. “Mmm, yes,” she cooed, summoning me forward with a crook of her finger. “Come, my love, and attend to your queen.”

  Gladly.

  I crawled under the sheets with her and pulled her into my arms, immediately placing my mouth against the underside of her jaw and relishing her familiar flavor.

  “How did it go?” she asked, her mind clearly on the wrong subject if she was still able to question me about courtly matters and not focus on what was prodding her quite insistently in the hip.

  “Settled,” I answered, hoping that would suffice. But she arched her eyebrows, silently requesting details.

  I sighed. “The last of the forest dwellers seeking safe harbor from fire damage have been accounted for and are settling into new homes as we speak. Only a handful are left needing help with finding employment, which we hope to fix by the end of the week.”

  Nicolette nodded, pleased to hear my report. She smacked a quick, congratulatory kiss to my cheek. “I must say, I chose the perfect top advisor to see to all these details.”

  I grumbled under my breath as if my opinion conflicted with hers, even though a sense of self-pride swelled inside me.

  Truth be told, I was strangely satisfied with my new role. Being the kingdom’s top advisor felt different—worthy. I was doing something big and significant in the kingdom, helping new laws develop and people settle conflicts. I’d been running around like crazy these past few weeks, making sure everything Nicolette wanted done got done. And I was exhausted. Greggor had made the position look like a plush job, but it was far from that. Being the top advisor was surprisingly demanding yet rewarding work.

  It helped that the Donnellean army had agreed to stay for a fortnight and do a portion of the manual labor in physically putting out fires and transporting villagers who’d been displaced from homes. But I still earned my keep, doling out th
e queen’s orders and then some.

  Nicolette remained busy throughout the day, too, taking in information and learning what she could about her new duties, already trying to better herself.

  “And Roloff confirmed that we have the funds to support the purchase of all the new homes we provided?”

  “Of course.” I moved my ministrations to the softness under me, running my hands up her rib cage to cup her breasts. “He showed me all the figures personally.”

  Strangely enough, our castle soothsayer had an affinity for numbers, so Nicolette had put him in charge of overseeing the kingdom's monetary accounts and dealing with funding.

  “That’s g—oh!” When I flicked my thumbs over both nipples, she sucked in air, gasping, “Good. That’s good. Very good.”

  “Is it?” A frown puckered my brow. “Only good, huh? I must be losing my touch.” Determined to pull a greater reaction from her, I leaned down and sucked a hard bud into my mouth.

  Nicolette arched under me, pulling at my hair and groaning out her pleasure. “Oh! Yes…”

  Better, I thought. But not quite there yet.

  I slipped a hand over her hip, then ran my fingers down from behind, squeezing her bottom lovingly before moving up between her legs and entering her wetness with a thick finger.

  “Farrow!” she cried out, clutching me. “Oh God. Oh God…”

  Now, that was more like it. Finally gaining her full attention, I growled out my victory and made love to my woman as I’d been aching to do since this morning, when I left her warm and sighing from my goodbye kiss at dawn.

  Afterward, she curled up against my side and rested her cheek on my heartbeat, drawing idle designs on my chest with her fingertip.

  “What’s to happen now?” she asked softly on a wistful sigh.

  “Now?” I furrowed my brow. “Now you rule, my queen. Hopefully with all the fairness and grace I know you have.”

  She glanced up at me with a dry look. “I meant between us.”

  “Oh. Well…” I cleared my throat. “I guess that’s up to you, Your Majesty.”

  She laughed softly. “If it were up to me, we’d be married already.”

  My lungs seized. “Is that what you want, then? To marry me?”

  Lifting her gaze, she said, “Do you not want to get married?” When a bit of hurt and doubt entered her eyes, I melted.

  “Oh, my love,” I purred, touching her cheek. “I’ll be with you in any way you’ll allow it. And marrying you would be the ultimate honor. I am yours. Always.”

  “But…?” she said for me, obviously hearing one coming in my tone.

  I winced. “But I’m a bastard. I was raised in a brothel until I was brought here to be the royal court’s whipping boy while I slept in a stable each night and cleaned horse dung for a living. How can you honestly think that kind of man is worthy enough to marry a queen?”

  She caught my chin sternly even though her eyes were kind when she looked deep into mine. “You’re worthy because I deem you worthy. I could never consider anyone else my equal. Only you.”

  My eyes filled with pain. “Even after I betrayed you?”

  “Well…” She gave a rueful shrug. “You kind of betrayed everyone; it was your fate. So I decided not to take that too personally, especially since you did exactly what you were supposed to do in order for us to end up here as we are now and restore peace to our kingdom together.”

  It warmed me to the bone that she already referred to Far Shore as hers. As ours.

  But then, what she said really sank into my bones.

  “By God, you’re right.” I shook my head, amazed. With everything happening, I really hadn’t taken the time to let the facts sink in. But… “My prophecy as the Bastard Betrayer is fulfilled now, isn’t it? I finally know my place in this life.”

  It was to serve my queen. In and out of the bedchamber.

  So peace could come to many nations.

  Nicolette smiled and kissed my forehead. “Exactly,” she answered. “There’s no peace in the land without you in the equation. So…?” She lifted her brows, giving me that same impatient stare she always did when she was ready to get what she wanted right then. “Was that a yes or a no to my proposal?”

  I chuckled. “Since you asked so poetically,” I teased, tweaking her nose when she blushed. “How could I refuse my queen anything?”

  Epilogue

  Nicolette

  “You want to know what I don’t understand?” Indigo said as he peeled a grumpacker in the seat across from me.

  Turning my gaze from the window of the carriage I’d been staring out to watch the Far Shore landscape pass by, I lifted my brows in amusement as he kicked back lazily on his cushion and hiked his boots up onto the padded bench next to me.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Why…” he wondered, “is a woman who marries a king labeled a queen, but a man who marries a queen a mere prince?”

  Sending him an odd look, I answered, “You tell me. You’re the one who insisted it had to be that way in the first place.”

  He scowled in irritation. “Only because that’s how Bison said it’s done on Earth. Or at least how he thinks it goes. Apparently, he’s never followed royal order that closely before.” He wrinkled his nose. “Strange, that.”

  “Well, we certainly don’t have to follow Earth’s rules,” I decided, “as we’re not earthlings ourselves.”

  Farrow gasped at such a suggestion. “Yes, we do,” he argued. “They are far more advanced than we are. And they have much more experience with ruling queens than we do. It’s only logical that we follow their wise example.”

  With an obliging sigh, I fluttered out an unconcerned hand. “If you say so.”

  It all gave me a headache, if you wanted my queenly opinion.

  I honestly didn’t care what label he wanted to place on Farrow, and Farrow certainly didn’t have any love for either title of king or prince. So we’d let Indigo have his way when Farrow and I had married a moon cycle ago, and my true love had gone from being known as the Bastard Betrayer to Farrow, Prince Consort of Far Shore.

  Taking a bite of his fruit and tossing the peeling out the window, Indigo moaned in bliss, then told me, “We’re setting a precedence here, one that all the Outer Realms will follow when other kingdoms start getting female rulers. And since you’re the first one to marry, we need to do it right.”

  Indigo always made a point to call me the first ruling queen of the Outer Realms to marry, since technically the claim of “first ruling queen period” went to Kalendria. Even if she hadn’t held the crown for three full days, she’d still been first.

  Farrow liked to irritate him by arguing that Kalendria had been married. To which Indigo insisted she hadn’t been married but widowed while she had ruled, so it didn’t count, ergo I was the first married queen ruler, in his opinion. Only for Farrow to counter with, “And why is your opinion so hallowed?”

  I swear, my mate liked to bicker with my best friend more than I did. It was quite endearing. Soon, he’d be labeling Indy as his best friend as well. Or better yet, our best friend.

  “Of course,” I agreed with Indy distractedly, only to break out in a grin when Mint rode up to the window of the carriage, and then the prince consort himself stuck his head inside, looking for me.

  “We approach Pinsky, my queen,” he reported. “And so far, the roads appear clear.”

  When he’d first started calling me my queen, instead of Your Majesty, I urged him to stop using that title too. But the brat refused, and it soon became a term of endearment, just as my lady and princess had been for him before that. Now, I trembled in delight whenever he said it, especially when he was thrusting inside me as his gravelly voice rasped the words in my ear.

  “Thank you, lover,” I crooned to him, reaching out to trace his cheek with my index finger. “Say, why don’t you come ride in here with me for a bit? We can kick Indy out and close the curtains.”

  On the seat oppo
site mine, Indigo made a distinct gagging sound. “I’m sitting right here, you know.”

  “Yes, and why is that?” Farrow countered with a glower. “Shouldn’t you be out here, doing your damn job?”

  “I am!” Indy cried incredulously, motioning toward me with a piece of fruit. “I’m personally protecting my queen.”

  Farrow snorted.

  Technically, Indigo’s role of being my bodyguard had been eliminated when I’d gone from princess to queen and I’d made him the leader of all my armies. But usually, he still ended up at my side by the end of every day, accustomed to personally watching my back for me.

  Even though I’d made Farrow my top advisor, he and Indy often switched roles, with Indigo openly giving me his opinion on every decision I made, and Farrow overseeing security, like he was now, riding with my guards to make sure the trip went smoothly.

  Indigo did oversee the training of all the guards, however, and Farrow still offered up his advice to me, usually after we’d made love and were still wrapped in each other’s arms, recovering from the aftereffects of orgasms.

  But all in all, I’d say the three of us worked rather well together, keeping the kingdom running quite handily.

  Some people didn’t like the idea of having a Donnellean for their queen, a High Cliff military leader, and a Far Shore bastard for the realm’s top advisor. But we couldn’t please everyone.

  Thankfully, a majority of the kingdom was just happy to see Torrance off the throne. They may be leery of having an outsider take his place—such a young one and a female to boot—but they were graciously giving me a chance to prove myself. And I was just about finished with my royal tour, where I wanted to visit every village in the kingdom, personally meet my subjects, and hear what they needed most with my own ears.

  We’d just left Brill four days before and were about to enter Pinsky, which sat on the southern border of Far Shore, next to what had formerly been the kingdom of Teller but had since been taken over by High Cliff.