As it was, the most imminent death needed to be that of Merrick. If Fade was to die and Merrick acted upon his threats, it would be Merrick who ceded to the throne and that Calder could not tolerate.
He turned to the shamans and bit out, “Whether you wish to or not, you are about to help me. The future rests in your hands and if you choose to abide and to guide me, then you shall be richer than you ever imagined. But do wrong by me and you shall die. Of that I promise.” He paused and glared at them. “Do you understand?”
The youngest looked furious at such a prospect. The other two seemed more amenable.
Nodding, he turned his back on them and set to work.
There was a lot to do, before this plan of his was tailored to perfection.
Heather couldn’t believe how at home she felt. While it had been decades since she’d been in the Jenderian palace, by simply being there, memories were triggered. Sadly not of her parents, but of her aunt.
In the gardens mostly.
Aunt May had always loved to have her fingers in the soil. Even in their tiny Manhattan apartment, there had been plants everywhere. On the windowsills, on shelves and on the floor. Walking into their rooms had been like walking into an interior jungle. And in the gardens of the palace, with their neatly manicured blue lawns and peculiar flowers that emitted even stranger scents, she felt strangely at home. Connected to her aunt in some way that denied explanation.
In the past week since her arrival on Mearth, she had grown to know her mother and father a great deal more than she’d ever expected. It was strange to be with people who loved her so much and for whom she had yet to feel such a tie. More than anything, she felt guilty.
Every time she saw her mother, Heather saw the love for her in the other woman’s eyes but she couldn’t reciprocate. It was too early for that. But for her parents, who had known of her existence, who had known she still lived and whose love had continued unabated, Heather could only imagine how intolerable the situation was for them.
Already there had been clashes between Heather’s very nature and those required by a Jenderian Princess.
Fade was far more tolerate of her and her outbreaks of ‘Earthisms’ as he deemed them. He found them to be amusing. Laughing at her and chortling at her curses and her ways and for that, she’d forever be grateful. In the week since they’d arrived, Fade and she had grown insurmountably closer. Even she was surprised at the depth of need that flowed between them. On an almost constant level, she had to be with him.
He’d taken to training with the warriors in the fields outside the palace and she had to watch him. It wasn’t that she got her kicks from watching him, if anything it was the reverse. She hated seeing him in his battle gear, with his sword raised and warrior cries bursting free from his throat. It frightened her.
In fact, it more than frightened her. It terrified her. The thought that one day he would leave her for battle, fully intending to return victorious, only to be felled on the field, was enough to have her freezing inside.
Heather knew that if that were to happen, she herself would die. And it felt so ridiculous to think that. Even though she’d been born on Mearthen soil, she was a kid of Earth, of the nineties. Women didn’t die of broken hearts, but she would if anything were to happen to Fade and she had a feeling he shared that sentiment.
Of course, the mate bond was responsible for that.
In many ways she was thankful for it, but the prospect of such need, of such dependency was alien to her and scared her. But there was little point in thinking about it because there was nothing she could do.
A part of her hoped that her father would agree to stay on the throne a little bit longer. While her mother loved her and literally radiated that love, Heather knew because she couldn’t reciprocate, it caused Setta untold pain. As such, there were times when they clashed and the mealtimes were often one of those periods. Because of it, she’d lost her appetite and had lost at least twelve pounds due to not eating, at all.
They never ate in their private rooms, but always in the public dining hall. The hall was enormous and every night, like in a medieval castle, they feasted. But their ways were so completely different to her own and they were like no medieval romance she’d ever read. There were unusual forks and knives and skewers. Different eating patterns. Different rituals that if one didn’t follow, then one was acting against Mother Mearth.
To Fade, naturally, they were as simple as walking and to everybody else in the hall… but not to Heather. She’d once attempted to cut a piece of meat from a jalken bird, something which Fade assured her was a comestible. After she’d first sampled the meat, he’d shown her one of them in the palace farm the next day. It had looked like a turkey but instead of black and white plumage, it was bright turquoise and red. Almost like a peacock but without the tail. She’d tried to cut it with her knife and had watched in horror as her mother had almost leapt out of her seat to tackle the cutlery from her. All of the eyes in the hall had switched to her and it was hardly a small atrium. Over three hundred people broke their bread in that room and more had been there on that occasion. And at that moment, she’d been at the center of their attention.
“You must never touch the jalken bird with metal. It is sacred to us. Mother Mearth blessed us with this bird,” Setta had hissed. “You must pluck the meat with your fingers.”
When Heather had turned to Fade for affirmation, he’d merely squeezed her knee in sympathy and wrapped an arm about her shoulder. She’d seen the glance between her parents and had seen the displeasure in her father’s eyes at her mother’s, not her own, behavior. Her dad’s dictate that they let her be herself and that they let her become accustomed to this world seemed to be followed by everybody but Setta.
The more she was in Setta’s presence, the more the other woman tried to change her. And in a way, Heather knew it was because her mother wanted to control something, anything, because she couldn’t control the way her daughter felt for her. And inadvertently, as she tried to seek her daughter’s love, she was pushing her further and further away.
Then, there had been the time, when Heather had first been presented to court.
The throne room was a lot smaller than the feasting room, but huge nonetheless. Two thrones were at the head of the chamber and nobles had drifted along the length, deep in discussions of politics and at the same time, gossiping about only who knew what.
The morning had been about presenting herself to the court, declaring her return to Jender and also, announcing her title to the Jenderian nobility. She’d had to stride down the length of the room and only having Fade by her side had made the entire procedure at all bearable.
They had walked down the aisle together, aiming for her parents. When they’d come to a halt a few feet from the raised dais that contained her mother and father’s thrones, Fade had detached himself from her and bowed. Then, with a courtly twist of his heels, he’d turned to her side with an arm outstretched for her to use as a support. She’d curtsied and her eyes had caught her mate’s, looking for reassurance. Seeing the pride there had made her feel flushed with success and any discomfort had disappeared, leaving her confident in what was an unnatural position for her.
Fade’s approval mattered more to her than that of her parents and Heather had a feeling that was why her mother had behaved the way she had…
“You shouldn’t curtsy that way, Heather,” had come the low hiss, as she had made her way back up into standing position. “Why did you not do it as I showed you? If you would only listen, you wouldn’t have just blundered the way you did.”
Heather had stumbled at the reprimand. But far worse than that -because Fade had soon steadied her- her mother’s words had been overheard by one of the ladies close to the thrones and titters had soon burst through the room at Setta’s chiding.
Where she had once been flushed with pride, humiliation had soon taken its place.
Even now, three days later, she could still turn bright pink a
t the memory.
Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, Heather changed from a morning dress to a noon dress and groused at the necessity. She was sure that she’d never changed clothes as much in her life. Nearly ten times a day, she had to flitter from one outfit to another and they were always new. She had yet to repeat an outfit.
When Fade had said the palace seamstresses had made her a dress overnight, she’d thought it a tad exuberant to have a team of tailors on staff but considering how many times she had to change, she could well understand it. It would surely be cheaper to have them living in than it would to constantly send out to fashion houses.
Peering at herself in the looking glass, she grimaced at the image before her. Her hip bones and ribs were starting to protrude. She’d always been curvy below. On her ass and thighs. But on the top half, she was always on the brink of being too skinny. It was a bitch that the weight she’d lost, hadn’t disappeared from her ass but from the bits that needed all the fat they could get.
She shrieked as the door suddenly opened and thinking it a maid, she grabbed her morning dress to her to try and cover herself up. “For fuck’s sake,” she shrieked, and then flushed when Fade’s head popped round the door. His grinning face hovered there and she chided, “Don’t do that. You scared me to death.” Rolling her eyes as he shut the door and walked towards her, she tightened her hold on the dress in her hands.
A few days ago, she’d have dropped it in the hopes that he’d take her to bed. But if he saw how much weight she’d lost, he wouldn’t be pleased.
As it was, she kept the dress tucked against her body and his grin slowly faded into a frown.
“Why are you hiding from me?” he growled, something in his eyes twisted and Heather realized he was taking it as a personal affront. Her fingers tightened about the material, her knuckles turning white as she attempted to battle her inner demons. But she had little choice for he soon strode over and pulled the garment away from her. She hissed as cold air brushed over her skin, puckering her nipples.
She winced as his frown turned even blacker and into a scowl.
“Haven’t you been eating?” he reprimanded, his eyes flashing up and down over her form.
“Yes,” she lied, crossing her fingers behind her back as her eyes flashed to meet his and then darted way.
“Don’t lie to me,” he growled.
“I’m not lying,” she spat and turned around to gather another dress to her.
He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her against his length. His cock ever hard in her presence, didn’t do wrong by her. Even during an argument and even as she looked as skinny as one of the jalken birds, when it had been defrocked of its plumage and had been skinned and had all of its meat plucked from its bones… even then, his cock was still hard for her.
Despite herself, she was relieved and rolled her hips against him.
“Now, I think about it. I haven’t seen you eat at the table for a while. You pick. It’s your mother, isn’t it?” he grouched and shook his head. “Your father feared this would happen.”
“Have you been talking to him behind my back?”
“Of course.” She glared at him, but he merely shook his head and cupped her cheek. “I’m your mate, dearling. Of course he talked to me. He plead with me that I protect you. When you were naught but a babe, our mothers bound us together. That did not mean to say that they were fully aware of what kind of man I would become. He had to speak to me to make sure that I am what you deserved, what you need and what he wanted for you.”
“Well, I don’t like that you’ve been talking about me behind my back.”
“You’ll have to get used to it. There will be more talk if you don’t start eating. “
“I can’t help that I don’t know the stupid ways of this stupid place. And mother doesn’t seem to want to teach me. She’s content to growl and grouch at my lack of manners. It’s really weird. She’s making it so that when we’re ready for dinner, any hunger I feel just disappears and I just can’t eat. I feel sick instead. With nerves. Wondering what the hell else I’m about to do that will cause her to leap over the tables to tackle me. It’s humiliating.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I realized that this situation has caused you stress, but I didn’t realize the damage she was doing. We can eat here, in our suite.”
“She wouldn’t like that,” Heather whispered.
“Well, I’m sure she wouldn’t like realizing that she was the reason behind your sudden weight loss. Mother Mearth, you’re skin and bone as it is.”
“You’ve never complained before,” she bitched.
“Of course not. You’re beautiful. But still, you could do with weighing a bit more. Not less.”
Her previous boyfriends had always urged her to supermodel slenderness. A weight she’d managed to maintain quite easily, despite her round ass. But by living by herself in Pennsylvania, she’d gained a few pounds and that Fade still thought her to be too skinny, caused her to blink in surprise. How pleasant it was to have a man that loved her and wanted her to be at a healthy weight. Not some ridiculous ideal the media augmented to torture the average woman.
His hands smoothed down her shoulders, along her arms and down to her hips. His fingers massaged the hard notches of her pelvis and he grimaced. “I shall place an order with the kitchen. There’s no way I’m allowing this to continue. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“I can’t do that. I have to be there. They’re my parents… I have to see…” She sighed. “I have to be seen to follow customs.”
He snorted. “Follow the stupid customs?” he mocked. “Since when do you even know or care what the customs are? I don’t see why it matters.
“No. I’m not having it, Heather. We shall eat in our suite and your father will understand and explain it to your mother and no one will dare to question the King and Queen. And nobody will… well, there will be questions and talk, but I care not. Your health is all that concerns me and it should be to you as well. And if this continues, for I have seen how Setta is behaving, we shall return to Haden post haste. There is bound to be problems there. Having spoken to your father, I have realized a year has passed since I was last on Mearthen soil.”
“A year?” she whispered, astounded. That in such a short space of time, so many days had passed on Mearth, seemed incredible. But then, everything was incredible. Impossible.
“Yes.” He shrugged. “But I care not. It is simply that a shaman and advisor to my father has, for some reason, been ruling in my stead. We should be leaving anyway, but had you been content here, I would have put off a move and stayed here longer. As it is, we can travel tomorrow, if you want.”
Chapter Eleven
“Fade,” she whispered, her eyes seeking his.
“Yes, dearling.”
“I love you.” Her soft voice had his eyes gentling and as he stared at her, suddenly Heather felt naked in more ways than one. She was standing there disrobed, as her mate stood before her fully dressed. She was bare to him in more than just her gaze, in more than just her appearance. She had just opened her heart to him.
It seemed incredible that she could love a man so soon, but the longer she was with him, the more aware she was of how connected they were to one another.
Whatever their mothers had done when they’d been young, it had made it so that Heather couldn’t contemplate life without him. Before he could say a word she pressed a finger to his lip. They were soft and cushioned the pad of her fingers. “You don’t have to say anything. Don’t have to tell me that you love me if you don’t. I just needed you to know that I feel so fortunate that you came for me, even if you didn’t even realize that’s what you were doing.” She chuckled a little. “Star crossed lovers.” She shook her head when he raised a brow in question at what, to him, was a peculiar phrase.
Only she and Will Shakespeare had a clue about what she meant.
His large hand gripped her wrist and slowly, he pulled her hand
away so that his mouth was no longer covered by her digit. “I have never felt so much for another, my sweeting. The last person I loved, I lost when I was but a child. And I understand because you complete me in ways I’d never imagined. You accept me. My wings. What I am. How could I not love you? You fill my heart, Heather.” When he saw tears twinkle in her eyes, he lifted his hand to once more cup her chin. “Cease those tears, woman,” he chided with a grin. “This is cause for celebration. Now come. There will be no more talk of dining in the hall. I can’t deny I had noticed that you were incredibly tense when mealtimes were upon us, but I just thought it was the pressure, the anxiety at being with so many people and in such a strange culture. But there is no way that I will allow you to endanger your health. My love, you must think of yourself. What would I be without you?”
She grimaced. “Mother will not be pleased.”
“Do I look as though I care, Heather? You are all that matters. Now come, my cock is hard.” He slipped his hand from her pelvis and down between her legs. “Your quim is wet. Methinks we should revel in the moment, my love.”
Heather found it difficult to recognize herself in the female she’d become. In but a few short days, her behavioral patterns, rhythms that had been with her for a lifetime, had begun to change. She spoke differently. Something which was the most noticeable aspect of this complete shift. And she reacted to Fade as a budded flower reacted to a beam of sunlight. Her petal unfurled, the head of the bloom arching towards the rays of light. That was who she’d become.
The Heather of old, the Heather of just a few days ago, would have scorned such an idea. Instead, she was captivated by this man. The changes were bone deep. Changing her bodily functions and patterns as though she’d changed her hair color. As she shot out a hand and cupped his cock, she recognized that while she felt no desire, no arousal… Fade’s passion for her triggered a response in her own body.
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