Dusk
Book One of the Equinox Series
A Regna Imperial Novel
By
H. J. Bradley
Dusk
© 2015 H. J. BRADLEY
FIRST PUBLISHED 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS ELECTRONIC BOOK IS PUBLISHED BY
NIGHTCHASER INK PUBLISHING
P. O. BOX 1145
SOUTH PERTH
WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6005
WITHOUT LIMITING THE RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT RESERVED ABOVE, NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN OR INTRODUCED INTO A DATABASE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR ANY MEANS (ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE) WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF BOTH THE OWNER OF COPYRIGHT AND THE ABOVE PUBLISHERS.
THIS BOOK IS A WORK OF FICTION AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, OR PLACES, EVENTS OR LOCALES, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. THE CHARACTERS ARE PRODUCTIONS OF THE AUTHOR’S IMAGINATION AND USED FICTITIOUSLY.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For Sam, we finally did it.
Chapter One
"Are you still sulking because you didn't hook up with one of the bridesmaids?"
Johann didn't even bother to look up at his cousin Kai's voice and instead simply dug his bare feet further into the sand. He couldn't stand her smugness right now, certainly couldn't handle the cocky way she was strutting around the place like a peacock. So she had got married, it wasn't that big a deal.
"Oh give him a break," said Steph, his cousin's gorgeous but nosey new wife. "It's probably the first time he hasn't gotten some tail at a wedding in ten years.”
Well, that wasn't entirely true ... close but not accurate.
"Don't say things like 'gotten some tail' Steph, this isn't an episode of Fresh Prince.”
She gave a laugh then and shook her head so dark auburn hair fell into her eyes. “So what are you doing sitting out here all on your own?”
Johann didn’t even bother to answer her question, after all how was he supposed to explain that he hadn’t really been trying to get with any of the bridesmaids at their wedding? It wasn’t that none of them piqued his interest; in fact he had slept with two of them already and tried his luck with a third. There was just something else that had been occupying his mind recently. Thoughts centering on the fact that he was about to turn twenty-three, which in turn meant that his life was about to change inexplicitly. Johann had been very good at not thinking about what was happening in the not so distant future, until now.
“You haven’t really been yourself the past few days.” Kai’s voice sounded concerned, and he shaded his eyes to look up at her. “Are you coming down with something?”
He slapped her hand away before she placed it on his forehead. It was getting rather tiring always been treated like a child; sure he knew that his carefree attitude and ways led people to treating him like he was a lot younger than he actually was. Well, his family anyway.
At that moment the sound of a boat engine caught his attention, and even though it was the summer holidays, the tourists tended to give the islands a pretty wide berth especially when it was known that the royal family was there. Kai didn’t seem all that bothered by it as she and Steph climbed the steep path up to the walkway that would lead them back to the cabins, they were chatting and laughing with each other and completely ignoring him now. He watched them for a few moments before turning back in the direction of the boat which had just come into sight. It was just one of the usual transport boats that ferried people over from the mainland, a small blue aluminum run-about that all but skimmed over the surface of the lake.
In fact, it was skimming, something which signified that it was probably going too fast which could be dangerous with the sandbars and such that were often lurking just beneath the surface. As he watched, a figure was suddenly all but flung over the side of the boat, hitting the water with quite some force and causing Johann to jump to his feet. Glancing behind him, he couldn’t see either Kai or Steph. Looking back out at the lake it seemed that the boat had continued on despite losing its passenger, and he couldn’t see anyone resurfacing.
With a ball of panic settling in his gut, Johann pulled off his polo shirt and threw it onto the sand before sprinting into the cool and still water of the lake. The moment the water got deep enough he dived in immediately setting a quick pace towards where he had seen the person go into the water, thankful that he was in reasonably good shape because it was a decent distance from the shore. Just as he reached the area he had been heading for, a woman burst up from the depths in front of him. Under normal circumstances he would find her appearance quite funny as he couldn’t even see her face because of the thick curtain of black wet hair that was covering it.
“Are you alright?” He made sure to keep at least an arm’s length from her, not wanting to startle her into dragging him beneath the water with her. A similar situation had happened to him once in Thailand and he would rather not repeat it.
“Yes.” She was laughing as she pushed most of her hair from his face, and the first thing that he noticed about her was her eyes. They were the kind of sky blue that you read about in books or saw in movies but he had never been able to find in the real world.
“Good.”
It wasn’t like him to be rendered mute in front of a woman, but there was something about this one that he found unusually compelling, especially as all he could see was her face since the rest of her was still beneath the water. She was beautiful, that was for sure, with high cheekbones and full lips, but Johann had known a lot of gorgeous women in his time.
“Do you mind?” She pointed towards the shore of the island. “Can I get past?”
There was a twang to her voice, an accent that he hadn’t really heard in a while. Well, not since he was all but banished from Wales and Valto broke up with their Crown Princess. So why would a Welsh person be at the islands? She wasn’t Cat and as far as he was aware was nothing to do with the future Queen, which then begged the question of who the hell was she.
“Not until you tell me your name.” He reached out for her then, gripping her upper arm as she tried to swim past him, and giving her his most disarming grin when she turned to glare at him.
“My name?” There was an undercurrent to her voice, something that he knew he should be picking up on but as usual had absolutely no idea what it was. “You don’t know my name?”
That Welsh accent made his heart pick up and his body took notice despite the coolness of the water. So he had struck out with the bridesmaids but he might just get lucky now, and though the fullness of her face indicated that she was probably a bit bigger than the girls he usually went for, he had been actively trying to approach bigger women. He knew that his friends back in New York thought he was starting to lose his mind, and his family was hoping that he was simply starting to grow up at last. It didn’t hurt that this particular woman was stunningly beautiful, and he had a feeling that his dick wasn’t going to care about just what she was hiding beneath the water.
“If I knew your name I wouldn’t be asking.” He loosened his grip on her arm before removing his hand entirely, not without letting his fingers caress the creamy skin first.
“Johann …” She shook her head before pushing away from him and starting to swim strongly towards the shore.
He watched her go for several moments smiling to himself. So she knew who he was, sometimes that made the whole seduction thing easier when he didn’t have to go through all the introduction small talk. Now the only difficult thing was going to be keeping Valto from taking offense to him sleeping with a Welsh woman, his cousin seemed to think that he had the monopoly there since he had finally got beneath Cat’s skirts.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Steph’s voice was distinctively condescending, as though he had jumped into the water shirtless simply to try and seduce a complete stranger.
Falling back onto old habits he rolled his eyes at her. “Why? Do you like what you see?”
Steph’s eyes narrowed at him, but he turned his attention from her to the woman whom he had attempted to save, pleased to see that she was pulling off the dress having clearly decided that it was a lost cause. Beneath it she was wearing a plain white bra and panties combination that showed off long legs, strong thighs, and wide hips that he could imagine getting a nice firm grip on, a nice waist, and best of all an amazing bust. In fact it was a bust that was so amazing he knew that he had seen it before, like on the photograph of Princess Myfanwy of Wales that Valto had given him four days ago. “Myf?’
“Trust you to only recognize her when she’s half undressed,” said Kai.
In his mind that wasn’t even worth responding to, and instead he simply picked his shirt up out of the sand before walking over to Myf. It had been over six years since he had laid eyes on her, since his childhood best friend had been ripped from his life and sent somewhere that he hadn’t been able to contact her. Not that he had really thought much of it at the time having already started his hedonistic ways that she didn’t seem interested in, but certainly over the last few months she had been cropping up in his thoughts more and more.
“Here put this on.” He held the shirt out to Myf, only to find that she was giving him a once over, a blush coming to her cheeks when she noticed him watching her. “You’ll get cold.”
He could feel Kai watching him closely as if waiting for him to do something that she was going to have to interfere in, and it occurred to him that she knew the truth of it. Some bloody secret this was turning out to be.
“Johann.” Myf’s voice was surprisingly gentle, and he found himself immediately drawn to the way that she was looking at him beneath long dark eyelashes.
“Hello, Myf.”
Behind them he could hear Steph asking Kai what was happening, and his cousin shushing her in response.
“You didn’t know who I was?” She pulled his shirt over her head and it was as the hem fell to just beneath her hips he realized that she was just short enough for the top of her head to brush under his chin. It was also then that he noticed that her thick black hair fell to beneath the hem of his shirt, which meant that she had by far the longest hair of any woman he had ever seduced before. Though this seduction was now considerably different to what he originally thought it was, this was a seduction that would last his lifetime.
“You’ve changed a lot,” he said, reaching out to brush away a strand of black hair from her eyes.
“You haven’t.” She reached out and placed a hand on his chest, though it seemed like a bold move he could feel a distinctive tremble to her fingers.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.” Johann covered her hands with his own and then stepped forwards so that she had to tip her head to look at him. “What are you doing here?”
Quirking one fine eyebrow Myf leaned away from him slightly. “I’ve just turned twenty-five.” Johann nodded his head slowly. “Why do you think I’m here?”
In all honesty there was only one reason why she would be here. Her six years in Australia had always seemed more like banishment than simply her going to continue her education, especially as she hadn’t been seen around again. “To get married I’m assuming.”
She gave a soft laugh. “Something like that.”
Johann leaned forward again then, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as he whispered the words. “Hello, fiancé’.”
A shudder went through him as she turned her head towards him, their cheeks brushing against each other as she did so. “Hello, Johann.”
He found he couldn’t hold himself back for another minute. Whether it was the feel of her against him, or their long separation, or the way that he just felt drawn to her in a way that was almost scary, but he felt a need to taste her at least once. Kissing a woman just a handful of moments after seeing her again was a bit forward even for him, yet as he slid their mouths together he found that he didn’t care.
Johann had expected to be slapped. Most women, especially women of high society, would certainly have made their displeasure known quite quickly. Myf, however, seemed to first be stunned and then all but melted against him as her mouth opened beneath his. She seemed clumsy and unsure of herself, and it took a few moments for him to come to the conclusion that she wasn’t very experienced in kissing. Twenty-five seemed a bit old to not have been kissed very much, however, now wasn’t the time to be teaching her what was the best way to kiss. He broke the kiss gently, letting their lips linger against each other for a while before stepping back and turning to where Kai was watching them with a thunderous look on her face.
“What’s going on?” Steph was looking both confused and horrified, as though everything she thought she had known about both Johann and Myf was a lie. “Johann?”
He hated lying to Steph, especially since she had been so close to all of them over the years, and she was certainly going to be angry that Kai had never thought to tell her. But his cousin took the secrets of their family very seriously, and despite everything his marriage to this woman was political in nature. Certainly it was one of the biggest secrets of their generation, which the King of Finland had arranged for his then newborn grandson to be married to the two year old daughter of the King of Wales.
Pulling away from Myf reluctantly, he turned to look at Steph. “There’s a contract.”
Confusion filled her eyes and she looked up at her wife. “What contract?”
“My father sold me to the Finnish royal family to secure Cat’s place on the throne.” There was a certain bitterness behind Myf’s words, and Steph’s eyes widened in horror as she looked between all of them.
“You bought her?”
Kai shook her head quickly. “No, it’s not like that. My grandfather saw a way to strengthen our political alliances by arranging a marriage between Johann and Myf, this sort of thing used to happen all the time.”
“This isn’t the 1800s Kai!” Steph looked all but ready to punch her wife. “You can’t just marry people off anymore.”
“Well, it seems you can.” Johann folded his arms across his chest.
“They both had the chance to dissolve the engagement if one of them wanted to marry someone else.” Kai shrugged her shoulders. “Clearly that didn’t happen, and I’m assuming Myf is here because their courtship is going to be announced.”
Courtship. That word was enough to make something inside of Johann clench painfully. He had always told himself that when Mauno decided it was time for the wedding to go ahead that he would do everything in his power to make his marriage work. Myf had been his friend once and that was a good base to build relationship on, certainly there was the possibility that he and Myf would never love each other but sometimes that wasn’t necessary. There were plenty of their relatives that had married for politics or money and not for love; his own stupid older brother Heikki had got himself into a similar situation with a woman who wanted nothing more than to wear the crown.
Throughout all of this, Myf had remained completely silent, her eyes downcast as she started to wring the water out of her hair. There was something about t
he way she was holding herself back, was letting a conversation that was about her own life simply happen without her input that gave him a feeling of unease. Other women of the royal families tended to be loud and brash, standing up for themselves with a ferocity which had quickly put him off of dating women within his own social class. Not that he wanted his women to be meek and mild or anything of the kind, but he would rather not fuck somebody with the fear that they were going to rip his face off in the next moment.
Submissive. That’s what Valto had said to him at the wedding, and though that word brought up images of leather and whips there was something different about the way that Myf held herself. She was nothing like the women at the fetish clubs that he had been dragged to by his more open minded companions from time to time; instead there was something deeper going on. A mystery and one that Johann was determined to get to the bottom of.
He wasn’t able to really say much else to Myf because, with a scowl on her face, Steph quickly herded her off to the Welsh cabin to dry off and hopefully get dressed. That was if the boat that she had fallen off of had even bothered to drop off her luggage at the islands. So with a last sideways look at Kai he headed back up the beach, determined to take a walk and clear his mind.
Chapter Two
As was traditional, on the night that the family members and monarchies that weren’t Finnish arrived on the islands, Johann’s grandfather held a formal dinner in his personal cabin. It held a huge table which seated around forty individuals on benches on both sides along with a single chair at the head of the table sat his grandfather, Mauno. Two large old fashioned chandeliers were hung down over the table.
“So is this where it’s going to happen?” He turned to face his mother who was sat beside him, her hair an elaborate arrangement of curls atop her head and wearing a flattering lime green dress. Johann knew that he got a lot of his carefree ways from his American mother rather than the more snotty Finnish side of the family.
Dusk (Equinox Book 1) Page 1