by Vi Voxley
She took a deep breath, a hint of fear playing in her eyes as neither he nor Elias had yet to say anything. Then she carried on, intent to speak her piece.
"You want to be kings, but so far I think being a king is not that different from being a prisoner to the customs I see you don't agree with. Change them, then. It is what kings do. If my words alone are not enough, let me put it this way. If you find a way to make this work, I'll stay. By god, I'll just completely throw common sense out of the window and stay here.
"If you don't... if the last thing I see before the agency comes to take me back is one of you dead? I will leave."
14
Elias
When Chloe finished, her words still seemed to echo in the empty gardens and in the deserted halls of the palace. They rung through Vanor as well.
Well, Elias thought. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it worked. It definitely worked. She spoke her mind. I should have been more careful with my wishes.
Even Vanor seemed at a loss for words. The stern commander wasn't known for his inspiring speeches, at least off the battlefields, but Elias didn't have him marked down as someone who didn't take a stand.
I guess having your world taken apart one way or another does that to a man.
"Do you even know what you're asking of us?" Vanor finally turned to Chloe who sat, her hands folded neatly in her lap, waiting for them to respond. "You want us to go against everything we've been taught. To change the way our world works, just like that."
"Is that what you think as well, Elias?" Chloe asked, looking at him.
Her cheeks were lit with the most fetching blush.
"I agree with Vanor. What you want is monumental."
"I see," Chloe said, with a tone that said she clearly didn't. "I thought what I was asking was a little backbone. To fight for what you want and what you think is right."
Elias' eyes narrowed. It was a second day in a row when a woman lectured him on right and wrong, but he hadn't expected it from his fated. While he loved Chloe's temper and her willingness to stand up for what she believed in, her chastising them without having lived a day on Corolon was similarly absurd.
"You can't say that," Vanor cut in before he could. "There have been two kings before. It always resulted in wars, disputes, civil unrest. And joining Merive and Greole in a union? The people will not accept it."
"All you're talking about is the past," Chloe said at once. "The only times you've spoken about the future, you sound like the same person. You want the same things, can't you see that? To restore the Haverins to their greatness. To lead your people into a golden age, literally. Do it, then! Start it by sending these stupid customs to gather dust where they belong."
Elias saw Vanor give him a long look and knew exactly what the commander was thinking. She didn't know, she couldn't have known. The wars of two kings had been long and brutal, each trying to gather more power than the other, going mad in their strongholds. Each and every time it was the same.
Yet in his heart the doubt kept blooming and growing stronger. Chloe's words were tearing at his pride. Were he and Vanor doomed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors? With her as the joining link between them, was it so unthinkable that they could do… better?
With every passing moment, Elias found that it wasn't necessarily a reason why not to try.
Chloe must have seen some of it in his eyes, because she relaxed a little, her gaze fixed on him with such intensity Elias felt like she was taking his soul apart.
"Elias," she said, his name rolling off her tongue like a hymn. "You said we needed to talk. Tell me, what exactly were you going to say? I saw the truth in your eyes."
Now Vanor was looking at him as well, awaiting the answer to the same question.
She got me.
There were many reasons not to admit to that truth. Elias thought Vanor understood him pretty well, but he had no idea what decision the commander had come to. They had already seen that not everyone welcomed change with open arms, but was that ever so?
Not to mention it would have meant that he and Vanor would never escape each other. They would rule together, share a fated. There could be no stronger bonds than those.
Above it all, Chloe's words rang. All his life, Elias had worn the imaginary crown on his head, picturing what he would do when he was king. Now he realized that his plans for the future had been created in a cage, chained to the ground by the Haverin stubbornness, when it should have taken flight.
"Yes," he admitted. "I was going to say perhaps fate had a plan in mind for all of us."
Chloe breathed out audibly in relief.
"Vanor?" she asked, hope ringing in her beautiful voice.
The commander didn't turn his gaze from him, but Elias refused to blink or look away, just like with the suns about to rise very soon to cast light upon a new world. In his mind, he was a step ahead of Vanor, having the courage to admit what he truly thought.
Mutual hatred burned in their eyes, golden and fierce. A lifetime of dislike and challenging one another was impossible to undo in a moment, but Vanor's silence had stretched on for too long.
"I agree," the commander said at last. "This can't be a coincidence. Fate must have chosen us for a purpose. We three coming together is no random chance and I am willing to put my faith in that, but it won't be simple to convince the rest of our people of that."
Our people.
His words made Elias grin, the wild smile dragging his lips wider until Vanor matched his expression and they turned to Chloe, whose quickening heartbeat was almost audible.
"So this is it?" she asked, her voice shaking. "You won't kill each other? You promise me?"
"We promise," Elias said. "Vanor will not die by my sword."
"Or Elias through mine," Vanor agreed. "We must warn you though, this will not go easily. Our people are proud and willful. If this is to work, Elias and I must speak with one voice."
He nodded, pulse racing. There was something in the air – a change, a rebirth. It was all he had ever wanted, right at his fingertips. A chance to make his people what they deserved to be.
All he had to do was reach out and take it. Never in a million years would he have imagined that Vanor would be the one standing by him as he forged a new life for their people.
The paths of fate were unpredictable, but Elias felt elation like never before. Sure, he and Vanor had plenty of fights ahead over policies and proper order of things, but they could do it.
They could share power instead of trying to grab every ounce of power into their own hands. Their strengths were different, but they were powerful without doubt. With Chloe to cool their tempers and blow their passions hot when needed, it could work.
It will work, he corrected in his mind.
“I’ve never been afraid of a challenge,” she said.
He and Vanor rose from their seats as if of one mind, sitting down by Chloe's side again. Elias leaned in to kiss her, loving the way she moaned into his mouth, letting Vanor grope her supple, soft breasts.
The smile on her lips spoke for her and the future grew clearer before Elias' eyes. He pulled Chloe's dress down, watching, mesmerized as the cloth revealed her hard nipples and smooth skin. Chloe turned to kiss Vanor deeply while Elias laid gentle kisses on her neck, playing with her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples until they were hard.
The air filled with passion and lust, the three of them edging closer together as it was supposed to be, but there was something missing and both Elias and Vanor knew it.
They pulled back practically as one. Chloe looked from one to the other with a mixture of still-raging desire and a hint of dread.
"What is it?" she asked.
"We’ve made you a promise," Vanor explained. "It is only fair you should do the same."
"If we are going to destroy our way of living, if we put aside the differences of our families... If we do all that, you need to tell us," Elias continued, watching understanding dawn in Chloe'
s eyes along with actual dawn.
The first sun cast its rays upon him on a very different morning compared to the last.
"Will you stay?" he asked.
15
Chloe
Spotlight on.
The two warlords had suddenly decided to get real, perhaps a bit too real for Chloe's liking. Then she backtracked a little in her head and totally saw how they could have thought to demand such a ludicrous promise from her.
I did tell them I'd stay, didn't I?
Chloe saw life flashing before her eyes and the whole truth about her existence hit her like a brick wall. It was just so incredibly boring. After her childhood and the accident of her parents, which weren't exactly the right kind of interesting, there was really nothing that exciting to see. If her journey through adulthood was a movie, Chloe wouldn't have sat through it.
On the other hand, there she was, caught between two incredibly handsome warlords who weren't fighting for her hand, but offering her both. And a kingdom with all the perks, if a little trouble, but nothing good ever came without a fight, did it?
It was totally insane to even consider staying in her little game forever, but Chloe couldn't think of a single thing she missed about her old life. Empty apartment, nonexistent love life, barely tolerable coworkers?
"Listen to yourself," Reuben had said.
Usually Chloe would have objected taking advice from some dimension-skipping strange alien, but for one such, Reuben had had a point. All the compromises and middle grounds and lukewarm pleasures hadn't brought Chloe one ounce of the happiness she'd felt on Corolon. The only thing that had threatened to ruin her future there was the upcoming duel, but apparently she'd stopped it.
She'd yelled at two warlords very used to getting their ways and she'd gotten them to drop their plans of killing each other.
All the words were in her head, lined up and properly arranged. They came so naturally to one who had used them so often. Excuses and apologies, empty reasons and pointless arguments that had little to do with the actual question.
Her heart felt differently, however. Ever since she first set her eyes upon them, the answer had been right there and Chloe knew it. The warlords might have called it fate or gods or whatever else they believed in, but she thought it was something even greater.
The one chance to seize what was meant for me. True love indeed.
"Yes," she said. "I promise. I won't go."
It felt good to finally say it out loud, like she was sealing her destiny with that single utterance, guaranteeing that it was nothing but smooth sailing from then on out. In that moment, Chloe truly believed it would be.
The eyes of both men lit up and Chloe was willing to bet the same desire raged in her eyes as it did in theirs. The clear morning light fell on empty benches as they took her by the hands and led her back to her room, never taking their eyes off her.
If she was perfectly honest, Chloe was amazed they made it into the bed at all.
She didn't let the warlords rip the dress this time. As unbelievable as it sounded, the dress came off much more quickly the way it was intended.
Judging by the looks in Elias' and Vanor's eyes, they didn't mind that course of events one bit.
Wearing nothing underneath, Chloe finished undressing much faster than her two fated in their full armor. It felt like the most natural thing to do, to bare herself before these men. She climbed on the bed, watching with painful anticipation as they removed the heavy gear for her viewing pleasure for the second time.
The sight hadn't gotten worse in the time that had passed, quite the opposite. Now that Chloe knew they were hers, she couldn't wait to touch and kiss and lick them all over like she'd wanted from the moment she set foot on their world.
They didn't waste any time with teasing either. Apparently the armor had that in common with dresses, but they came off fairly easily if done correctly.
Chloe had to bite her lip when the last pieces fell and the two warlords got on the bed with her. Their cocks were already hard, aching for her, and her own body wasn't faring much better. Seeing them was like unwrapping presents, making her body tingle with desire, her fingers aching to explore them.
Her pussy was so wet that when Elias pushed one finger into her, it went in smoothly, making Chloe moan loudly. The warlord grinned, laying down between her thighs to kiss her clit, nibbling at it. He sucked it into his mouth, scissoring two fingers inside her now.
Chloe would have moaned, but she didn't have the breath to do it. Vanor had knelt beside her, first pulling her in for a deep, lingering kiss. Her hands found his rock hard cock, giving it a tug and enjoying the drawn-out groan from Vanor's lips.
She settled into a rhythm, her mouth still on his while Elias ate her out. He pressed his mouth against her sex, driving Chloe mad with lust quicker than she could have imagined.
The feel of them both against her was unlike anything else she'd experienced before. Perfect, firm bodies, their ripped muscles moving against her soft skin whenever they reached to grope her, which was all the time. They kept up a constant array of touches, caresses, kisses and bites, making her feel like she was surrounded by them on all sides.
When Vanor pulled away, Chloe fell back, taking his cock into her mouth or at least trying to. With her whole body shivering from head to toe from what Elias was doing, she could hardly concentrate enough to suck, but it took none of her appetite away.
Vanor's cock was huge, just barely slipping past her lips. When Chloe tried to wrap her tongue around his thick shaft, the commander grunted, his sculpted body wincing. Vanor's hands tugged at her head, directed her to take him in deeper, just like she wanted.
His cock was hard and hot and heavy on her tongue. Feeling Elias' fingers and tongue inside her, switching one for the other, Chloe couldn't stop imagining them fucking her, filling her to the brink with their cocks. She had never wanted anything so badly, but coherent speech was already lost to her.
Oh my god, I don’t want this to stop!
Moans were her only weapons to tell the men that she needed both of them, needed them to fuck her until she couldn't remember her own name.
At a signal she didn't catch, Elias and Vanor both pulled away. Chloe whined, a small sound at the back of her throat. It quickly turned into a moan when Elias moved to sit against the headboard of the bed and Vanor flipped her over to her belly, leaving her on her stomach between Elias' wide, firm thighs.
She grinned, licking a long trail from the base of the warlord's cock to the tip, making him groan and snarl, a hungry, predatory smile on his face.
Vanor nudged her legs apart in the meanwhile, pushing them wider open for him. Chloe rose to all fours, bending down to take Elias' cock into her mouth now, letting Vanor take over licking her. The commander took to the task with such fervor that Chloe lost all sense of where she was for a moment.
He licked her so passionately it was like she was the greatest thing he'd ever tasted, pressing his tongue past her entrance.
Chloe wanted to moan, but her mouth was full of Elias' cock, the hard length poking the back of her throat. She still wanted more, completely lost to the hot passion between them. Her body writhed against both, the men touching her wherever they could reach. Their tongues and lips and hands were always on her, stimulating every nerve ending in her body.
It felt amazing, but she wanted more, so much more of them. The things they'd promised to her before, the images the words had conjured.
"Fuck me," Chloe moaned, pulling away from Elias, looking into his deep golden eyes. "I need you in me, I need you both to – please–"
Elias looked at Vanor over her head and when he turned his gaze back to her, Chloe moaned silently. The lust in there was like a storm of fire, burning with heat she couldn't hope to control and definitely didn't want to.
Vanor pulled her up to kneel before him. She let her head rest back on his shoulder, allowing the commander to continue finger-fucking her, teasing her clit with his o
ther hand. Chloe moaned, watching Elias lay down on his back before her, stroking his cock, watching her.
Looking at the huge member in Elias' palm, a sense of bittersweet dread overcame her. She had never been fucked by a cock that big, much less two. Her pussy was wet and ready, but the two warriors were no less intimidating for it. If she couldn't fit them, it would have been a horrible disappointment, but Chloe wanted to try more than anything else.
Vanor released her, letting her climb on top of Elias, slowly lowering herself down on his cock. The head slipped into her easily, but after that the going was harder and Chloe loved it. She squeezed her eyes shut, gasping and throwing her head back and whimpering when Vanor appeared behind her, fondling her breasts gently.
It felt so good, so incredibly right that Chloe imagined she was made to take him. Her pussy clenched around the shaft, pulling soft groans from Elias’ throat as he held her hips. His lips were parted, breathing heavily as he pushed inside her.
"You're so tight," he growled. "Your pussy feels amazing, so wet and willing for me..."
Chloe couldn't control herself anymore. She let herself fall, impaling herself on Elias' cock completely. The warlord gasped out loud, but it only lasted a second before he snarled and grabbed a better hold of her hips.
Chloe screamed when he thrust into her with sharp, rolling motions. She dug her nails into his arms holding on to her, but the sounds she was making were apparently too much for Elias to stay patient.
Gently, the warlord pulled her forward to lie on top of him, allowing her to kiss him deeply, feeling his cock throb inside her with need.
"Relax," Elias whispered to her. "You are my fated. I wouldn't hurt you. Only the good pain when I fill that tight pussy of yours, every inch of it."
The next moments proved his words true when Elias pushed himself inside again, groaning at the tightness. Vanor's hands were on her breasts, fondling them and his hard cock was pressing against her ass as she rode Elias' cock, crying out his name.