by Nicole Snow
“How about the one where I throw your ass out and tell you to find a new job?” I growl.
She blinks, surprised. Unfortunately, after fucking me, she's too fearless for her own good.
“That seems...rather uncalled for,” she says, choosing her words carefully. “I'm just doing my job, Your Highness. Forgive me if I've offended you or your fiancee.”
I study her face when she says the last word. Damn if it doesn't look like she's chewing something rotten.
“It's been a rough day for everyone. I'm more than happy to coach Erin with anything I need to. She's the one you've chosen to marry, after all.” Surrender, that's what's coming out of her now.
I've seen that hurt, puppy dog look on women I've fucked a hundred times. This has to be the first where I'm feeling absolutely no remorse.
Victor's looking at me. Waiting. He's got one hand on his phone, ready to call security if I decide to kick her to the curb this very second.
Lucky for her, she's too damned good at what she does. I can't risk an untested specialist working the kingdom's media if grandmom's health goes to complete shit.
“I don't have time for this. Go write.” I'm flying down the hall without a second glance behind my shoulder.
Vic trots after me, struggling to keep up. I don't slow down for a damned second.
I'm alone for the next few hours, stuck in my office. I've got to make a few more phone calls. Contingencies for the worst clusterfucks I can imagine for myself and the kingdom.
First, I talk to the generals and admirals. Their loyalty to the crown means everything if the kingdom falls into total chaos.
Then I'm on the line with the leaders of both major parties. George has already told them what I said this morning, spelling out my role while my grandmother takes the longest break she's ever had from royal duties.
Fifty fucking years holding the scepter. I can't imagine it, but I'd better start. I'm next in line.
I answer the tense, probing questions from the men who depend on lofty promises to win votes for power.
“Everything is fine,” I tell them, over and over, wondering if I'll believe it after I say it enough times.
It's a phrase of the day fit for Robby the Talking Horse to sing a song about, if he could, the main character on the nation's kids' show. I sung with him, once, when I was about nine, and they wanted to bring the Prince on as a special guest.
I mangled the stupid ballad about ten times before I got it right in the last cut. Singing hasn't interested me since.
Whatever mistakes I've made before in my life, there's no room for new ones.
Deflect, spin, and promise. That's what I do with the ministers and party leaders before I get the hell off the line, faking a call coming in from the royal hospital.
I'm not even stretching the truth that much. It's the last and most stressful call of the evening. When I get Her Majesty's physician on the line, I look out the window, and it's dark.
Thousands of little lines glowing across the city's skyline, melded with fuchsia and burgundy. Several hundred royal purple candles sit flaming in windowsills, praying for grandmom's recovery.
“Well, how is she?” I ask, ripping open my drawer. The bottle of scotch I've stashed for emergency situations is still there.
“We have more assessments to finish, Your Highness. Tests so far have been inconclusive.”
There's a word I hate. It takes a long, fiery swig of booze to quell my frustration enough to finish this conversation.
“So, what? Is it a stroke, or not?”
“We don't know, sire. We're doing our best. I promise you, we'll know more in the morning. She's being monitored around the clock.”
“Give me two scenarios, best and worst.” I pop the bottle open and take a long pull while the doctor clears his throat, closing my eyes as sweet, calming fire splashes my stomach.
“Best case? We find the event was limited, hasn't done any lasting damage, and she's discharged within the week. As for the worst, well...she's eighty years old, Your Highness. Worst could mean a lot of things.”
He won't tell me she could die. Nobody has the balls to say it, to even think it. Not when this woman has been on the radio and TV since most of the kingdom was in diapers, a comforting presence in the troubling times.
“Call me if anything changes. Don't care if it's the middle of the night. You call, doctor.”
“Understood, Prince Silas.”
I slam down the phone. There's a schedule in front of me, glowing on the screen, everything the Queen had lined up for the next week.
Tomorrow, there's supposed to be afternoon tea with the Russian ambassador, and then a late dinner with the emissary from the States. Our kingdom's longtime neutrality and grandmom's generosity has put us front and center, mediating a territorial dispute in the Baltic.
I don't know where the negotiations are at. There's a good chance I'm going to turn over the table if we can't get the Russians and NATO to shake hands, accidentally starting World War III.
Fuck.
I stand up, bottle in hand, barreling around the office. I'm looking for a glass so I can really lay down the scotch. When I finally find one, I stop just short of filling it.
My stomach turns, staring at the liquid gold in the glass.
It's...revolting.
Double fuck. The day I've always feared has arrived. Booze won't help me anymore. It won't do anything except cause a disaster if I'm sucking on the bottle as King, and starting tonight.
Growling to myself, I push the cap down on the bottle.
I'm growing up. The fucking, the drinking, the parties with supermodels and spoiled rich kids from across Europe, they're in the past. I can't indulge them anymore. I don't even want to because they're not going to take the edge off.
There's only one thing that's made me feel human since I found out the brutal news this morning.
Erin. My Princess with benefits.
She's waiting for me in her chamber, probably pouring over the news breaking online. Wondering what kind of man she's going to see when I return.
I have a chance to show her it won't be a stumbling, horny drunk. To show myself that I can take the reigns without falling off my horse.
My father would be a drunken, weeping mess right now. Probably running for the nearest bar with another slut at his side.
Never me. I grit my teeth, staring at my reflection in the empty glass. No, fuck, I'm better than that.
If I can fix this kingdom in its darkest hour, then I can damned sure fix myself. And that means this crazy thing I've got with my Princess could be more than pretend.
Am I ready for that? Ready to settle down, to love, to act like a man with his wife-to-be instead of just a carefree fuck with a dick bigger than his crown?
I don't know, but I'm about to find out.
11
Open Revery (Erin)
It's late.
I haven't seen Silas since we returned to the palace. I've been in his chamber all day, watched around the clock by Dean and several other guards.
They've been whispering into their phones and radios all day.
I hear the same words over and over.
Her Majesty's health. Chaos. Damned rioters.
Silas. Prince. King.
Every time I hear that last one, it makes me swoon, and get so lightheaded I want to throw up. I've barely gotten a handle on this Princess thing. I never imagined I'd be a Queen in my wildest dreams – even a pretend one – and I'm scared. I'm in too deep.
The way they say King Silas makes me worry, too. It's said with tension and humor, the way a person talks about a silly hypothetical, something that won't really happen.
I'm sitting by the window, watching the capital's lights wink on below. It seems like half the windows are filled with royal purple candles lit to pray for Queen Marina's health.
Their glow splashes everything like smooth wine. I wonder if I'm watching the last time the kingdom will know peace.
I'm so lost in my thoughts, I don't hear him come in. There's a hand on my shoulder so thick, firm, and confident it can only belong to one man.
I look up, placing my hand over his. He takes my fingers like he owns them, squeezes, then lifts them to his mouth.
His lips make me feel better instantly. Whatever else is happening out there, I know where we stand in this room.
“Hey,” I whisper. “What's the latest?”
“Hell,” he says, a one word answer heavy as ice on his tongue. “Nobody knows what's going to happen. We just have to take it day by day, love. Do everything we can to settle the nerves rattling this kingdom. That's what royals do.”
I stand up, facing him, sliding my hands over his shoulders. He pulls me into his arms. I'm scanning his eyes, falling deeper into ocean blue. I want to understand how he's so calm with the weight of the world – or at least a whole kingdom – hanging around his neck.
“How can I help?” I ask, running one hand across his cheek.
God, his stubble feels good. He hasn't had time to shave all day. It's rough like rest of him. I'm still discovering what I enjoy in a man, but I love when things match, bound together in a single gorgeous package.
“You really want to know?” he asks, that sly quirk pulling at his lips.
Swallowing the expectation in my throat, I look at him, and nod.
“Don't fight me when I rip off that dress. That's going to help a lot.” It's the only warning he gives.
His hands are on me. Moving, tearing, pulling. He's quick, ferocious, a wild animal who needs to get me naked this fucking second.
When I'm down to just my panties, I turn toward the hall leading to the bedroom. Big mistake.
Silas jerks me into his arms, slamming me against his chest, resting his forehead on mine.
“No. We'll save the sheets for later. We're going to fuck in front of this glass, beautiful, where anyone can look in and see. I want transparency, love. Let the people see their future King and Queen, in lust, with nothing left to hide.”
I'm taken aback. More importantly, both my wrists are in his fists, and he guides me to the huge window pane. My back slides against it, cool as a sheet of ice.
Warmth, fire, and glacial cool collides in my bloodstream. It's strange, conflicted, and oh so wrong.
But I'm getting used to wrong feeling right – especially when he moves his head down my breasts. My nipple disappears into his mouth, and my knees start shaking.
“Oh, God!” I whimper, losing myself in the pleasure when his teeth form a tight little ring.
He eases off after several seconds, just long enough to make the wet spot on my panties three times bigger. Clenching my ass, he pulls me into him, then moves one hand around my thigh, sliding to the middle.
He slips his fingers in me hard, never taking those blue eyes off mine for a second. “Silas,” he growls.
“What?” I can barely speak when he starts to move, stroking that spot in my pussy that's going to make me see stars.
“Silas. That's the only thing on your lips when you're coming, love. That's the man who's strumming your whole body, making your wet little cunt sing. That's who wants to own you. Body, mind, and soul.”
His thumb finds my clit and brushes against it.
Oh, God. Oh, yes. Oh, Silas.
I'm trembling, putting my hands against the glass, hoping my legs don't completely buckle when he makes me come.
I can't think about the people behind the glass. Hell, I won't let myself wonder what kind of message this is sending either. This manic, animal rush to sex when a whole country is hanging by its nails...
“Move that sweet ass. Fuck my fingers,” he growls, pulling them away, making me grind down against his hand.
I'm twisting like a whore. It makes me flush, sweat, and get even wetter. Just standing in this palace, with what looks like a crystal chandelier more expensive than a house hanging over us, its edges reflecting every filthy, desperate face I'm making each time he pleasures me.
How can he stroke so deeply like this? So good? How can he know exactly what gets me off?
It's because he's slept with like half a million women, and I've only had him.
One.
For a second, through my haze of ecstasy that makes me grit my teeth, I'm jealous, and disappointed with myself for falling so hard, so quickly, to this man who's had a king's feast of pussy. It shouldn't be this hard to imagine myself in another man's arms.
But when Silas lifts his hand away, dragging my panties down my legs, there's nothing I want more than having him inside me again.
Him, and only him. My Prince with benefits that make my eyes roll wild.
“Step aside, love, so I can get these fucking things off.” I lift my leg, and he swings them around, throwing the sopping wet mess behind his shoulder.
“Turn around,” he growls, standing up, towering over me.
The hard-on raging in his pants rubs against my ass through his trousers before he even takes it out. He takes my breast again in his fingers, rolling my nipple gently, a prelude to the crisp pinch that's ten times better than the golden clamps could ever be.
“Beautiful, love. You're going to come so hard tonight. So fucking hard we both forget our own names, much less the hell going on around us.”
“Only if you make me,” I whisper, spreading my fingers high above my head, flat against the glass.
Every gesture in my body language now says one thing – please.
More thunder rumbles through his throat, and this time it doesn't form words. I hear his belt buckle coming undone.
My bottom lip catches in my teeth. My breath grows tense, ragged. My pussy pulses so hot between my legs I need to pinch my thighs together. I'm going to either come on the spot or die first, if he doesn't fucking touch me right now.
“Please, Silas. Make me come,” I whimper.
“Make you?” he growls, slipping his bare, seething cock between my ass cheeks. “Love, I thought you'd give me a challenge. Something to take my mind off the kingdom and it's damned bloody politics tonight. We both know you're going to come like mad the second this king sized dick fills your tight little pussy.”
No!
“No!” I shake my head furiously, trying to deny it. Too bad my body won't let me.
“Yeah, yeah, fuck yeah,” he says slowly, a hot, low groan in my ear. “You're a good Princess because you're begging to be my royal whore. You'll come for me because I've got the biggest, meanest cock you've ever had. The only cock. The first, the last, the best dick. Made for fucking your pussy, love. Made for making you come when I tell you to.”
I'm burning up. Sweating, trembling, staring out the glass and trying not to pant like an animal in heat.
Jesus, I'm shaking, desperately grinding my ass on his length, bucking my hips to try to pull him inside me.
I see his reflection behind me, his face hovering over my shoulder. He smiles like a lion looking down at his dinner.
Damn him. God damn him!
He's beautiful, but he's still a royal asshole.
I hate that he's enjoying this, watching me come undone. I absolutely, positively loathe that he's making me enjoy it, too – maybe more than he is.
“You're an asshole, Silas, even when you're sexy,” I say, staring out at the city.
I've never been so vulnerable before. Anyone with the right angle or a pair of binoculars can look up here and see my naked body against the glass, my hot, desperate breath fogging it up, hiding my face.
Small consolation. So are having his hands grab my thighs. He digs his fingers into my tender skin, and of course, it heats my blood ten more degrees.
“And you're going to come for me, love. You're going to come so hard half the city thinks a fucking bomb has detonated up here.”
He shoves his cock in me.
There isn't time to protest. No time for comebacks or denials or self-conscious doubts.
He thrusts about three times, pu
lling my hips into his, before I'm losing it. My lips form a ring, I lean on the glass, and I'm gone.
I'm coming. His dick fucks me harder, straight through the clenching, screaming, shaking mess I've become.
My back arches so hard my spine goes stiff. Silas grabs my hair, twirls it around his fingers, and jerks me close enough to hear him growl.
That's when the screaming starts. He's fucking me, drilling me deep, pounding me until some wild, wicked instinct I don't understand rips lose.
I'm not in his palace anymore. I'm in nirvana, spasming and moaning. Slave to his cock for what feels like forever.
“Fuck,” he growls, thrusting his full length into me and holding it there when I'm coming down from it. “That's the way you'll always come on this dick, love. Every damned orgasm you have is beautiful because I made it, and you'd better believe I'm making more tonight.”
Shit! He's right. There's no stopping him.
I don't even want to. My body leans into his, knees still trembling, letting his strong, tall weight steady me. His hold on my hair tightens, pulling me in. Silas bites my shoulder, sinks his teeth in, growling until it vibrates through my entire body.
We're lost in our sex. I'm not just drowning in those royal blue eyes anymore, but sinking into him, every single inch.
It's scary. It's insane. It chains me up like I'm losing my mind and releases me again.
I've been starved for so long. And now, I'm finally allowed to feast, as long as I'm joined to his ridiculously perfect cock.
When he holds one hand up to my mouth, I bite it, getting him back for the hickeys he's no doubt left around my throat. I know it drives him wild because he fucks me harder.
Pushing me against the window, he holds me by the throat. Gently, but firmly, he starts fucking harder. Faster. Slamming his hips into mine until I go over the edge at least two more times, crazy to feel him add his heat to mind.
I don't know if he's stopped to roll on a condom. I'm way past caring.
Thinking about his seed inside me nearly makes me come again. Silas is panting, holding us both against the glass. I'm glad it's industrial strength, or else we'd have broken through it ten minutes ago.