by Daya Daniels
I hold her gaze.
“It was her?” A hand slaps the middle of her chest and she keeps it there for a while.
“He loved her.” I tip my head forward as I say the word. “He loved her, Mother.”
The knowledge of my statement and its truth is written in her eyes.
She knows what I say is truth…
“He loved her.”
“Please stop.” Wandering closer, she shudders. “Please, I beg you.”
“You took him away from all of us.” I grit my teeth. “You took him away from everyone.”
She slow-blinks.
I expect her to say something, anything, perhaps repent, but she remains silent.
“You hated him.” I breathe heavily. “You hated him because you knew he didn’t love you.”
Her chin is tipped high, reminding me that even though she no longer possesses her jewels, her fine dresses, and the respect she was once due, still she is regal with her posture, even now.
Does this woman not break?
“Your father did not love me, Alexander.” She regards me fiercely. “But, I love you.”
And I hate you.
“I was never ready to be King, never.”
“But look at you.” She steps forward, smiling. “But look at you now, Alexander.”
Lowering my head, and gripping the cold bars which separate us, I shake my head weakly.
Her hand covers mine.
Reassuring.
Forgiving.
Confident.
So, so cold…
“But look at you, Alexander. You are a king. You rule this great kingdom now.”
I daren’t speak of all the ways in which I have failed.
I daren’t speak of all that I have bargained.
I daren’t confess how much I have missed her…
“This is your birthright.” A genuine smile stretches across her face. “But she cannot be Queen.”
Immediately, I pull my hand away, feeling injured by her words. “You need to REPENT!”
“I will not.” She does not yell but her words are as firm as the earth.
“Please.” A painful breath gets sucked into my lungs.
“I-will-not.” She stands taller. “I am the reason you wear the crown today. I am why you are King.”
I glare at her, wanting to bend the bars in front of me, reach out, snatch her and shake some sense into her.
Why doesn’t she repent?
“I love her, Mother.” I nod a few times. “I came to tell you that to your face.”
I owe you that much.
“Do you trust her?” Her eyes narrow.
Yes, with my life.
“I mean look at her, Alexander…”
She is perfection.
“She and Sister Rebecca spend their days with the people…” She stiffens. “How do you know they are not scheming against you. They could be plotting anything. The bloody Rose Princess…” A mirthless laugh rips from her just as she points a finger to the sky. “How do you know that eventually becoming Queen wasn’t in her plans from the first day she arrived here?”
A laugh threatens to explode from me. “She was an orphan.”
She points a finger at me. “A very beautiful orphan.”
I tilt my head to the side and listen to this nonsense.
Mother goes on. “That Briar Philomena Wyn has risen through the ranks of the House of Montforthe-Byron. She has clawed her way into this family—my family—by fucking my husband and now both of my sons…” She drowns in a pool of her own dirty pride.
“Mother, please understand.”
“She is a temptress!”
“Mother, please…”
“ALEXANDER, SHE IS A—”
Volume lifting, I speak my words with brevity. “If you utter another word, I will have you whipped.”
She catches her tongue before it does something she’ll regret.
I calm quickly.
Whirling around, she offers me her back and proceeds to weep. “If you came here to punish me, you have done just that.” She cries. “How long will you keep punishing me?”
I regard the woman who gave birth to me and her pathetic state.
She is my beloved.
A woman with a broken spirit and a busted soul. And now, thanks to me, a completely shattered heart.
It is the final nail in her specially carved casket.
I find that still, I am not satisfied.
“How long, Alexander?” Her body quakes.
Turning my back on her, I walk away.
“How long, Alexander?” Her demand to know bounces off the walls of this dungeon. “HOW LONG?”
For as long as you live and breathe…
CHAPTER
VII
Briar
MY TREMBLING FINGERS SKATE over the wood and gingerly I peek through the open slat which provides me a view of all the men in the room far below. Wedged between two walls, this has been my hiding spot so that I am able to feel like I am a part of these endless gatherings.
I can only peek since my womanly presence is not welcome among the nobles and the barons.
A breath leaves my chest when I behold the King who sits at the head of a large table.
He does not speak, only listens to the nobles present their position regarding feudal land tenure.
This meeting has been going on for hours.
After letting out a yawn and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I focus on what I can overhear.
The nobleman speaking smiles. “Your Majesty, you are lord paramount when it relates to the matter of land.”
Alexander nods.
The nobleman goes on. “And we must implore you to reconsider how land is divided in Cornwall. Much of the allocations to the nobles and barons are unfree tenancy.” He makes a face. “We have no issue with this, Your Majesty, but how are we to know in matters of villenage what we will be called upon to do in order to continue to secure our rights to land.”
“Would it make a difference if you did?” Alexander slants his head to the side, regarding the nobleman with a stern expression.
The nobleman laughs. “It would.”
Alexander speaks. “I was under the impression that the nobles and the barons were willing to do whatever is required of them to keep their title to land.” His deep voice echoes throughout the room. “Any refusal of servitude will lose them rights altogether. This is the juxtaposition for being given land and rights and titles that you have-not-earned. I cannot give you everything.” He blinks. “This is the compromise.”
“But, Your Majesty…England…”
Alexander’s hand lifts, silencing the nobleman. “England-is-mine.” He rises and continues to speak.
This meeting is not going as well as I’d anticipated…
It is bread and circuses…
Sighing, my thoughts flicker back to all the goings-on at Berkhamsted Castle.
The Duke and Duchess had departed for Manchester with Morganna’s body shortly after Shaw officially confirmed that she had died from drowning. I had left Anna, who I miss so dearly already, in the care of Vesper who promised to keep her fed and hidden from the eyes of all those who reside at Berkhamsted Castle.
My stomach does an unrelenting somersault when I think about all I threaten to undo if she is discovered. Yet, some massive part of me has decided that if it means I lose everything because I have chosen to care for an orphaned child, then I will face that challenge only when and if it arises.
But, I am so very afraid.
Terrified, in fact.
It has only been a day since we have been in Cornwall.
Caspar and Davide accompany us along with far too many guards to count.
I should be in bed right now, but I could not sleep. Excitement rattles through me to be away from Berkhamsted Castle, but still I am not free to roam these lands. Guards trail me everywhere I go. I a
m constantly watched and shuffled about with little regard being given to how I feel about it. If it were not for the cool salty air which surrounds me, I would claim I am being suffocated!
I share royal quarters at a place called Bond Manor with Alexander, but I do not sleep with him.
Honestly, I have hardly seen him at all since being here in Cornwall…
My chest rises with the exhale I let out.
“This is risky.” A familiar voice causes me to almost jump out of my skin.
A laugh follows. “But then again, so is a king away from his castle with his future queen at his side…”
Whirling around, I find myself facing a familiar knight in his shining armor.
Smiling, Davide steps forward. “Princess Briar.” He eyes me suspiciously.
“Davide.” I laugh a little, failing at hiding what he has caught me doing.
“The guards are looking for you.” His brows arch. “I was looking for you also.”
My shoulders fall. “Yes, I am sorry.”
“Your whereabouts need to be accounted for at all times. We are no longer at Berkhamsted Castle.” He frowns. “Things are much different when we are roaming beyond the castle walls.”
“Yes, I know.” I shut my eyes for a moment. “I just needed to get away and find some alone time.”
“I understand.” He clears his throat. “The King often says the same.”
I smile.
“I am impressed that a lady would escape the watchful eye of the guards and use her private time to spy on a room full of ambitious loathsome men who speak about how they can only obtain more for themselves.” He laughs.
“Any matter that involves England, I wish to hear.”
“Yes, I see.” He clutches the heavy sword fixed to his side, strides this tight passageway, and looks around curiously. “This is a good spot.” He nods once. “It’s a little tight and uncomfortable, but it is a good spot. I am impressed that you found it at all.”
“I am resourceful.”
Davide chuckles. “Yes, if you are to be the future Queen of England, I would say that you should be.”
Something heavy and invisible sits on my shoulders.
I will be Queen.
I will wear the crown.
I will be at Alexander’s side forevermore.
“I should be able to stand in that room down there with those men.” A sharp breath leaves my nostrils.
“I regret to tell you that even when you are Queen, Princess Briar, they may still not appreciate your presence.”
“I’m well aware of that.” I glance at the men far below.
Alexander’s deep voice slips into my ears as he reaffirms his position. He holds his head high, looks each one of the men in the eye and does not balk when his opinions are gently challenged.
Davide edges closer to me. “He adores you, Princess Briar.”
I cannot stop the smile which forms on my lips. “I don’t think anyone has ever made me feel the way he does.”
Davide huffs. “With all due respect, Princess Briar, and with the knowledge that I may speak freely with you without causing offense.”
I frown. “Of course, Davide, always.”
“The King is intense.” His brows knot. “He is not a man who allows one to get too close. His own brother often finds it difficult to pin him down, as you know. He can be difficult sometimes. But he is a man that I would die for…”
“I know, Davide.” I pat him on the arm. “I respect him.” I swallow. “I love him.”
Davide nods.
“He is a far different man since he has become King.”
“Yes, that is true.” Davide smirks. “And you are a far different woman now.”
No longer a child.
No longer a scorned woman left by a man who never loved her.
I am stronger.
I am wiser.
I now know that the love I am willing to give holds value.
The King adores me.
I can see it in his eyes each time he looks my way…It is in his heart. It is in his tender touch.
And I have now accepted that I am worthy to be Alexander’s queen.
I
am
enough.
Alexander
I LIKE TO KEEP her close.
Although tonight, she feels so far away.
We will be married soon, but until then, I want her by my side.
Maybe it is my fear that she will run away?
Perhaps, I am afraid that she will change her mind and deem that I am not worthy of her kind spirit.
Or, maybe it is simply that I find her presence comforting…
Which it is.
A mass of long mahogany tendrils is gathered over a shoulder and falls to hit her waist. And a thin white nightgown covers her small frame. She is beautiful beneath the faint moonlight tonight and lost in her thoughts.
Heartbreak is etched into her features.
Pain.
Agony for all which has occurred.
Something begs me to tell her that she cannot carry the entire universe on her shoulders.
At least not alone…
I approach where she stands in front of a window. “The view is incredible, isn’t it?”
The biggest hazel orbs find mine. “Yes, it is.”
I edge closer.
She doesn’t move, only cranes her neck up to look at me. “It is different.”
The sea breeze slips in through the slightly open window and washes over our skin.
“It is quite nice not to have to look out and see Raven Forest.” Reaching out, my fingers skate down the line of her neck and my hand finds purchase on her shoulder. “But, I would be dishonest if I did not say that I miss it just a little.”
Smiling, I fiddle with her strands and then I step closer. My fingers settle at her waist and I pull her to me so that her back is to my chest, allowing her to feel me.
When she sucks in a startled breath and attempts to pull away, I clutch her tighter.
She breathes harshly through her nostrils.
I nudge her round ass with my swollen cock. “Are you afraid?”
Shifting slightly, her eyes meet mine. “Should I be?”
“I cannot answer that.” I growl the words into the supple skin on her neck and then I find myself unable to resist licking and sucking on the pale flesh there. “I want you, Briar. I do not think I can wait…”
There is so much heat between us. Loads of desires. Little restraint.
“I am no flower, Alexander…”
You are. You are. You are.
Her warm breaths ghost my cheek. “I am not as delicate as you may want to believe.”
You are. You are. You are.
My mouth falls open desperately awaiting her sweet tongue and to taste her.
She moans. “I wish to experience touch just as much as you yearn for it.”
I tease the tip of her nose with my own and peer into her soul finding everything I need for myself there. “I want too much from you, Briar. I fear I may take everything you have to offer and leave you with nothing. I will strip you bare. I will take everything. I will destroy you.” I loosen my grip and take a step back.
Heavily, she pants.
My chest rises and falls as I regard her messy hair and nightgown and her tiny feet as they stride toward me. I am almost inclined to back away, but I can do nothing but stare, unblinking. She is mesmerizing.
Everything her makes my heart rattle.
Hope and happiness swell my heaving chest.
She is perfect.
I hold a hand out, preparing to shove my fingers into her hair once more.
Gently, she nudges it aside. “I belong to you.”
Yes, you are mine.
“I’ve wanted to say these words for so long, Alexander, but I could not make sense of them.”
I smile.
“I belo
ng to you.”
“Yes.”
“And I think I’ve belonged to you since the beginning of time. I know that sounds completely mad…”
I shake my head. “It does not.”
“But I feel it is true.” Her eyes shine beneath the moonlight.
So do mine.
“I am just sorry that it has taken me so long to see.”
I forgive you.
Our hearts are shackled.
We are chained to each other.
Our desires are much the same…
“I love you.” A delicate voice slips into my ears.
“As I love you…”
“But, I am afraid for our futures.” I frown. “I am terrified that I will break everything and that I will shatter you.”
With wild eyes, she crashes into my arms and her eager palms glide over my skin and settle on my cheeks. “Maybe I want your ruin, Alexander.” Her fingers thread in my hair, and when her pouty lips find mine, I am consumed by a harsh kiss which leaves my lips red and hot when she pulls away. “I welcome it all.”
“Then, I will give it gladly.” Taking her in my arms, silently, I vow to never let her go.
Briar
UNABLE TO ESCAPE HIS molten gaze, I go limp in his embrace as he gently lays me on the leather chaise. His bare chest heaves, and with every inhale and exhale, I am gifted with the sight of the most gorgeous chiseled flesh. A tendril of his hair comes loose as he lowers to his knees in front of me and gives me a boyish grin.
I choke back shock and shame when I realize that my thighs have already parted, wide.
A chuckle leaves Alexander and his large hands slide up the goose bump-covered flesh of my thighs.
I regard him with interest as his tongue swipes over his perfect lips.
He is greedy for me.
And I want to be consumed.
Nimble hands shove my nightgown up and around my waist and I do not move an inch when everything sacred I possess is exposed to Alexander’s beautiful eyes.
“You’re wet.” He grins.
I’m always wet.
I nod slowly and do not speak as though I do not have a working tongue.
The bulge in his pants is distracting.
I trace the outline of it which only hints at what lies in surprise for me—thick, fat, long.