by Lara Swann
My cock is rock-hard and wanting her, and I groan into her pussy myself, sucking and kissing and licking - thrusting inside with my tongue, tasting the hot pleasure of her wet pussy, before giving a long, slow lick up to her clit and then flicking it back and forth with my tongue. I can tell how much she wants it, she way she’s gasping and repeating my name over and over, and it’s like the best thing I’ve ever heard.
A few more moments is all it takes, and then suddenly the quivers underneath me turn into full-blown shudders and she cries out in a high, gasping pitch above me. Her fingers clench tight on my shoulders and I wonder whether she’s going to leave scratch marks - again - even as I’m shifting my hands, pinning her to the wall so she doesn’t slip as she cums. I can feel it gush against me, and I suck it up as my tongue works her clit and I send her up and over and through her orgasm.
When the shudders finally start easing, I let up, and slowly bring her back down from it. I stand and pull her into me, letting her sag and relax so all her weight is on me while she recovers, kissing her hair and directing us both back into the center of the overhead spray.
She shudders in my arms again, then looks up with a sleepy glaze in her eyes.
“Fuck, that was good.” She half-smiles, body pressed close against mine.
“Yeah, really fucking good.” I say softly, stroking her wet hair back behind her shoulder. “You’re unbelievable as you cum, baby.”
She laughs, and after a few moments in the spray, starts to reach down towards my cock. I groan as her hand closes around it, fighting not to thrust instantly against those soft, delicate fingers - but I nip her lip and shake my head instead.
“This one was for you.”
She raises an eyebrow, but I kiss her before she can say anything else.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.” I say instead.
She blinks again, still slowly trying to refocus as she comes down from her orgasm. Then her mouth curves up at the side, and she kisses me again, slow and lingering.
“That was a surprise.” She points out.
I laugh a little, low and husky as I feel hot desire running through my blood and reminding me that I haven’t cum. But I’m pretty sure we don’t have time…this was enough of a distraction anyway.
“A different surprise.” I say instead, and reach behind me for the soap.
I lather it up and start taking the opportunity to feel every inch of her beautiful body. She shudders and shivers as I do, still sensitive from everything that just happened - especially when I run a finger in between the puffy lips of her entrance. Just to make sure that she’s properly clean, of course.
She giggles as I clean her, stopping to steal a kiss here and there.
“Are you taking me away somewhere cool and secret for a few days?” She guesses.
I glance up at her wryly. “No.”
Not nearly as cool as that.
“Have you found a hot, romantic spot with an amazing view to fuck in?”
“Um, no.”
“Are we going shopping—”
“Okay, okay, stop guessing.” I complain, rising to kiss her again and pin her to the wall for emphasis. “You’re making this sound way less exciting.”
Her eyes narrow immediately. “Don’t tell me this surprise is another fancy court event that you haven’t prepared me for at all—”
“No.” I throw my hands up, exasperated, then turn to get out of the shower. “God, if you gave me a moment I’d tell you.”
“I’m not sure I’m a surprise kind of person.” She says, watching me step out and find a towel before shaking her hair out and turning the shower off.
“I think I see that.”
“Well you can’t blame me, when your idea of surprises so far have been twelve hours on a train, meeting your parents in my hoodie and yoga pants, a crazy court dinner on no sleep—”
“Okay, woah Hanna. Stop.” I dry myself off and shake my head. “I just thought we could go and spend an evening with my friends, that’s all.”
“Ohh.” She says, then smiles. “That sounds lovely.”
I roll my eyes at her, pulling her into me as she comes out of the shower. She’s still wet, and I just got dry, but I don’t mind in the slightest.
“Next time, how about you just let me tell you?”
“I thought you wanted me to guess.”
“Yeah, that was a mistake.” I grin. “At least your guesses gave me a good idea what you expect from a surprise.”
“Hey, they were good ideas.” She points out, taking another towel and rubbing her hair in it.
“Okay, maybe you should plan them then.”
“Ugh.” She shakes her head at me. “Don’t think you can get out of the sweet, romantic gestures that easily.”
I make a point of groaning, and she tries to throw the towel at me. It ends up on the floor, and I snatch it up to loop around her and pull her close to me again. We end up kissing and fighting and playing for far too long, but we do eventually manage to get dressed at least semi-respectably and make it out of the door on time.
Well, if ‘on time’ means that there’s still some time in the evening left to see them.
“Just tell them you were fiendishly busy being a royal Prince and doing all your royalty shit.” Hanna helpfully suggests as we walk a little further than normal to the main doors of the castle.
“A couple of them were actually in - or outside - my last meeting today, I’m not sure that’s going to work.”
“Ah, sucks.” She agrees. “Well, we definitely tell them it wasn’t my fault. Wait - who are these ‘friends’? You’re not secretly taking me to meet some more of the court that hate me—”
“No.” I cut her off. Sometimes I think that if I let her, Hanna could have a whole conversation with herself. “You haven’t met them yet - and the court don’t hate you. They’re mostly—”
“Are they all royal and prestigious and shit? Do I need to know titles and—”
“Hanna.” I stop in the middle of the corridor and pull her into me again, taking her hands in mine. Her tone is light and silly, but when I meet her eyes I can see the edges of anxiety and uncertainty there.
Shit, she’s actually worried about this.
Though, based on how most of the times she’s met people here have gone…I can understand it. I should have thought about that.
“It’s fine. They’re not royal - I mean, one of them is my cousin, but most are just kids I grew up here with. Sons of stewards and guards and such. And they’re guys I get on with, so they’re not stupid and pretentious and infuriating. I promise. I wouldn’t choose to hang out with the kind of people who wouldn’t like you.”
She gives me a slightly unsure look, but seems to will herself to relax, and I lean in to kiss her again. Just lightly, this time - in the middle of the corridor with everyone watching us is not where I want to start making out…even if the way my cock throbs slightly in my pants says the complete opposite. Instead, I squeeze her hand - which is nowhere near the same thing - and we start walking again.
As we leave the castle keep and start wandering through the other buildings and streets contained within the walls, she glances over at me.
“Are you going to show me Salda’s nightlife, then?” Her eyes sparkle, and I don’t know whether she’s just trying to distract herself from that slight anxiety, but I think she’s doing a pretty good job. “I was wondering where I should be going to party.”
I laugh at that, shaking my head. “Not unless your idea of a party is a few drinks in a bar, I’m afraid. Salda isn’t too big on nightlife.”
“Being a medieval town and all that.” She teases, leaning into me, and as I glance over I want nothing more than to kiss her.
It’s getting darker and there are lights on in the buildings around us, and for some reason that edge of twilight makes me think of finding somewhere a little more secluded and—
“Derek?”
I realize I’ve slowed down, and
she’s glancing over in confusion. I smile and shrug, trying to push the almost constant fantasies aside. I deliberately decided to take advantage of the fact that making time for Hanna in my schedule also means that I can have some time doing other things I want - like catching up with people I haven’t seen for a year. So I really shouldn’t be regretting that I’m not spending another evening lying in bed with my beautiful, provocative Princesca.
“Sorry, what was that?” I ask again, glancing around and starting to walk faster again.
“I just asked what did you do for fun here? Before you started hitting the house parties and clubs of America.”
I look back at her for a moment, surprised at the curiosity. I’m not sure why I should be - Hanna seems curious about everything, and for all I know it’s just another fact to add into her mental picture of Aldoran culture, rather than a specific curiosity about me. But it still cuts to the core of some of my frustration with this place.
“Not a lot, I guess.” I shrug. “We mostly hung out and talked, got drunk a few times, dared each other to do stupid things and almost got killed by jellyfish a few times, if I remember right. It was all stuff we invented, either way - there’s not exactly anything dedicated to entertaining young people round here.”
She blinks at that. “What, nothing? Is that just Salda or…”
Yep, just curiosity about Aldora. That’s all.
“Salda is the largest city.” I point out. “And in the villages, it’ll be worse - though the agricultural industry is bigger there, and that probably eats a lot of time. We’re not exactly…the most developed, not compared to the rest of Europe.”
“Hmm.” She turns thoughtful, and we walk down another street. “It is lovely here, though.”
I look around at the city I grew up in, and try to see it through her eyes. I can sort of see what she means. Cobbled streets, the mixture of both quaint and elegant stone houses, and little cafes where people sit outside eating and talking…it’s nice. Just not very exciting.
“Yeah. Some of it is.” I say, then throw a heated glance her way. “But, though I doubt anyone has counted…I’d bet we have a pretty high teenage pregnancy rate.”
She laughs at that, throwing her hair back in the cool evening air, and I want to kiss her all over again. I don’t hear that enough in Aldora - the sweet, light sound of laughter. Whether from amusement, or happiness, or anything else - that’s one thing I wish we did more of - and seeing all those expressions play across her face just makes me feel warm inside too.
“So that’s what you got up to. I knew you were hiding something.” Her eyes spark at me, teasing and sensual.
I laugh and shake my head. “Not nearly as often as I would’ve liked. As I said, Aldoran modesty - and for some reason, I always found it a little difficult to approach someone here. It’s…it sounds stupid, but everyone knew who I was. Prince Frederick de Salducco. And I didn’t want…”
I trail off, struggling to put it into words. I’m not even sure why I’m telling her - she was just making a joke. It’s just that somehow, things seem to come out easily around her. Maybe just because before this, I haven’t had anyone to tell, and looking at my life from her perspective is…interesting.
“You didn’t want that to be the reason.” She finishes for me, and I glance over in surprise.
My stomach twists uneasily at the idea, and I immediately know she’s right.
“Yeah.” I say. “I guess.”
That’s the other reason I don’t tell people stuff. Because it all sounds so stupid. Like ‘look how hard I have it, being royalty and all’.
She squeezes my hand though, glancing over. “I get that.”
I give her a small smile back, and then look up at the doorway that we’ve stopped in front of.
It’s fairly nondescript, with no signage or anything to advertise what it is, but I push it open anyway and we’re greeted by a low, dark wood bar towards the back and a cozy group of tables surrounded by thick, heavy looking chairs and little stools. It’s mostly empty in here, with just the odd couple of people at a table drinking thick, bitter beer. We get the brief glance, one or two double-takes as they think they recognize me, but then I’m walking straight through into the backroom, and I nod to the man behind the bar - Garzia - as I go.
Hanna comes with me, still holding my hand, but her head swings around as we walk, curious as ever about where we are and what we’re doing. I push through into the private room that my friends and I tend to use and then come to a stop as they all look up at us.
It’s slightly lighter in here than the grungy atmosphere out there, but the room still has a dim feel to it, with not many windows and only a few covered lamps on. The main advantage here is the privacy - and the larger, thick oak table that we can sit at and not end up knocking elbows.
I grin at their sudden greetings, and come forward to introduce Hanna to everyone. We’re late, so everyone else is already here and as we find a couple of seats, I nod around at the group. Tomias and Samuel, sons of stewards looking after two different aspects of the Kingdom’s finances and economy. They’re both now training under the other’s father - I’m not quite sure how that happened, but I figure it works out quite well. Speaking from experience, learning stuff from your own family…isn’t great.
I continue around the table to Mikhael, who is currently working his way up through the Palace Guard. He doesn’t have family here - no one is quite sure who they are - but the castle servants pretty much adopted him when he turned up as a baby, and he grew up running wild with the little group of misfits that were the only kids I ever really got on with. I put him in contact with the Aldoran military general a couple of years ago, when - after months of dubious comments to these guys - I simultaneously decided it definitely wasn’t for me and found out that Mikhael had been hanging onto everything I’d said with fascination.
From what I hear, he’s doing really well now and I’m so glad he finally asked me to introduce him - I would have from the start, if I’d known, and maybe that would have made my brief time in the army easier too. Nothing ever seems to quite work out that easily, somehow.
He offers to go and get us drinks while I introduce the last member of the group - my cousin, Anton, who I’m pretty sure she has already met, but I doubt either of them remember it. Anton plays the good, obedient son in front of the court far better than me, but he pays almost no attention to whatever is going on around him while he’s there.
They’re all happy to meet her - and unlike everyone else in Aldora, they make it obvious immediately - smiling and laughing and joking with her as she asks what they do and starts finding out how we all fell in together. I can tell she’s obviously surprised by that, and she keeps shooting me uncertain little glances, but I squeeze her hand and shrug.
I lean over to murmur to her. “Aldorans are a lot more expressive in private, close relationships…and this group has always been a little less…civilized…than most.”
Anton picks up on the end of that, and grins over at her. “Yep, we spent most of our childhood running around playing pranks and tricks on all the crusty old serious people trying to run the castle.”
“And now we are those crusty old serious people.” Samuel adds with a laugh, and Tobias grins.
“That’s true - I’m thankful every day that I don’t have to deal with half the shit we did.”
“You mean you don’t use your new, exalted positions to cause more trouble?” I ask with a raised eyebrow, smirking at them.
“God, I wish someone would tell Jeromiah I have an exalted position.” Tobias mutters. “He didn’t seem to realize it when he was getting me to make every one of those damned Court Ball invitations by hand. We have clerks for that shit—”
“Yeah.” Samuel cuts in, rolling his eyes at me. “I’m not sure you realize just how much work you’ve given us, suddenly appearing with a Princesca-attenciano like that. The whole court goes into uproar - and with Nicolas as well…by god, I don’t
think you know how many people in the stewards’ offices wish one of you royals would make something stick already.”
He gives Hanna and I a pointed look, as if demanding that we fix this problem, and I feel suddenly uneasy about the whole deception. I haven’t told these guys, and I don’t intend to…but it makes this introduction a little strange. I can feel Hanna’s gaze on me and know that she’s thinking the same thing, and I start to wonder whether this was a good idea.
We already know this one isn’t going to stick…
And that makes me feel strange, too.
“What can I say - the people of Aldora like the excuse to get wrapped up in all the drama.” I shrug, smiling easily and trying to make light of it. “At least that’s the reason I’ve always been given for keeping these damned stupid traditions.”
“Well, one of you is more than enough for that, Derek - and you can’t deny the future Queen is more interesting than just another Princess, huh? No offense.” He shoots an apologetic smile at Hanna, not knowing just how much she dislikes being the center of attention anyway. I’m sure she’s pretty glad that she’s only my Princesca-attenciano and not the potential future Queen too. “So let Nicolas continue the charade, and you at least can settle down and stop giving us so much damn paperwork.”
He says it in the same amused-mocking way we’ve always talked about what’s expected of me, but now that I’m here…with Hanna…it feels a little different.
Anton is shifting a little uneasily beside me, too, and I suddenly realize that he knows a lot more about the chances of this “sticking”, as Samuel put it, than anyone else. I’m sure his parents have had more than a little to say on the subject, after our first Court presentation.