Merek lets out a sigh, he takes a step back and I watch as he runs his hand through his hair. “I would rather the man that could be hers, be wholly hers. If she were my paramour, I could never give her all of me and at the same time, I could not give my wife all of me either.”
Lifting my hand, I clap my cousin on the shoulder. I want to smile, tell him how proud I am of him. He is a good man, the exact opposite of our fathers.
He will be a good husband, a better father, and since I am the one who will decide his fate when it comes to that marriage, he will be surprised to know that if it is the white-haired maid he wants as his own, I will agree to the union.
He’s not ready for that information yet. I want to watch this unfold, see if he falls in love with more than just her rare beauty and instead, falls for the heart that beats beneath the surface.
Turning around, I find the eyes of my own bride. Holding her gaze, I realize that I’ve done just that. I’ve fallen for the heart beneath her beautiful surface. She is sweet and kind, her body welcoming to me, but more importantly, her smile and heart even more so.
Yes, she’s melted the iron around my heart. She has caused me to feel. The witches may have lifted the burden of my father’s mistakes, but Sybilla has made me feel again and that is something that no witch could make happen with a spell. Only the woman bound to me by the gods could do that.
Only Sybilla.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELIAS
Tugging Sybilla closer to my chest, I lean in and whisper against the shell of her ear. “Welcome to, Beallenau, sweeting. This will be home for a while.”
Lifting my gaze to the castle in front of us, I can’t help but smile. I wonder what she thinks. It is newer than the castle in Aerilon, though not quite as large.
It is one of my favorite holdings, and conquering it was a great joy when I was finally able to claim it as my own again, bringing it back into my family name. Sybilla gasps at the sight in front of her, and I can’t help but feel my pride bubble to the surface as my chest puffs out a bit.
“It’s stunning, Elias. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she breathes.
There are mountains behind it, protecting its flanks from intruders. The only way anyone could breach the back of the castle would be through magic, or unmatched knowledge of the land and how to navigate the mountainous range.
Even then, some of the most knowledgeable experts have perished trying to do just that. This is another reason why Sybilla will be held here while I fight a short distance away in Llyne. She will be protected in the castle of Beallenau. As well-protected as she can be without me standing right at her side, that is.
“You will be safe here,” I inform her.
Sliding my hand from her ribs down to her belly, I press firmly against her there. Closing my eyes, I wish, not for the first time, for my child to be growing within her. I’m not sure why it is of such importance to me, but right now, it feels imperative that she is with child.
I’m not sure why this need has filled me, why it is no longer a want, but a downright need to have her heavy with my child, but it is.
Maybe it had to do with the gods, the prophecy, the witches’ spells, or a combination of all of them, but I need Sybilla completely bound to me in all ways possible.
Guiding our caravan toward the castle doors, we have to travel single file on the stone pathway that leads to the entrance. I’m glad to see that the bridge has been drawn and the gates closed.
Glancing down, I notice that the moat is half full, a good amount to ensure that nobody will be able to climb the sharp and jagged rocks that the castle is built upon.
I’m sure that my caretaker received my missive to prepare for war. Also, I know that my soldiers should have already arrived by now, which means this typically quiet holding is probably bustling with unusual activity.
The gate guard sees me and calls out. “Oy, King Elias.” Lifting my hand, I give him a small wave. “Is that your new wee queen?” he shouts.
“Queen Sybilla.” I chuckle, causing her to jump in front of me at the volume of my voice.
“Welcome home, Yer Majesties,” he calls as the gate begins to open and the bridge lowers.
Lifting my hand again, I wave to the gatekeeper as I guide Storm toward the now lowered bridge. Once we’re inside of the fortified structure, I see that I am correct. The castle is abuzz with busy people.
Once we’re in the center, I dismount from Storm and help Sybilla down. A few of the castle servants appear and I turn toward the boy who stands, ready to take Storm’s reins from me.
“Have some men fill the Queen’s bath with warm water,” I bark.
The boys dip their heads before they turn and take Storm with them to the stables. The handmaids appear from the carriage and I turn to them as well.
“Your mistress needs a warm bath and a decent meal. See that she is tended to.”
They dip their chins and curtsy. Turning from them, I take a step away in order to talk to my army when a hand wraps around my wrist and tugs me.
I stop, irritated, I do not have time for this. War is upon us and we leave in only a few days, I need to be briefed by my men.
“I will see you later?” Sybilla asks, her voice full of a million unasked questions, no doubt she will ask them later, as is her way.
Dipping my chin, I jerk my head. “You will. I must go now.”
She smiles, almost sadly, but does not release my hand. “I will be waiting for you, Elias,” she whispers.
Taking a step closer, I wrap my hand around her waist and tug her against my front. Lowering my face, I touch my lips to hers before I whisper. “You’ll wait naked for me, My Queen. Before I leave for this battle, I will have all of you,” I growl.
“Do you love me?” she breathes.
I hum. I could tell her that I do and it would not be a lie. However, she wants a confessed true love and I’m not sure I can verbalize those words, now or ever. It makes me far too vulnerable.
“Your heart knows that answer without me saying the words,” I inform her.
She smiles against my mouth, her tongue sneakily sliding out to touch my top lip. “I believe my heart does. I want to hear you say it, Elias. I want to hear your words.”
“You may never…”
Sybilla doesn’t move away from me as I expect after hearing my words. Instead her arms wrap around my shoulders and she holds me against her. “I don’t believe that, not in the slightest. I will hear those words. I will hear your confession of love and only then will you have all of me, inside out.”
“By gods bones,” I curse. “How can I go to my men with my cock standing so stiff and alert?” I growl.
She lets out a small giggle and takes a step back, though she does not release her hold on me immediately. One of her hands leaves my shoulder, her finger extending and I close my scarred eye as she trails her finger over my scar, something that I would never allow another soul to do, ever.
“Go, My Beautiful King. Lead your men, check on them, then come to my bed,” she whispers.
“My Queen, the siren,” I say, grinning like the lovesick fool that I am.
Taking a step back, I wrap my hand around the side of her neck and squeeze her gently. “Rest, soak, relax and fill your belly, Sybilla. I will be back shortly,” I call out before I turn my back to her and head toward my men.
I can hear clanking of steel in the distance and with my closest warriors, my brothers, flanking my sides we head out to see how our troops fare before the battle that lies ahead of us.
SYBILLA
I stand nude, my girls around me and I’m no longer shy or embarrassed by my nudity, at least not with them. The water is hot, with scents of vanilla and something floral that I catch a hint of as I sink down into the large tub.
This castle has a bathroom, a real one, or at least more of a bathroom than I’ve seen before. There is tile-like flooring, a drain, a tub, a basin with water and a pitcher along with a
small mirror on the wall, and a small closet that I know, unfortunately, is an outhouse porta potty situation.
A tray is brought to my side with fruit, bread, cheese, and meat displayed neatly along with a goblet of fruity wine.
I moan as soon as the wine touches my tongue. It’s even better than what I drank in Aerilon. It’s almost like a spiked fruit sparkling seltzer, simply amazing.
“You know that I have to ask,” I begin, turning my gaze to Katrina who is busying herself with soaps that I know she’s going to use to wash my incredibly dirty and tangled hair.
She doesn’t look up to me, she doesn’t even stop what she’s doing when she begins to speak. “Merek has left me alone,” she whispers.
“Alone except for his heated gazes, the longing ones that if I were not careful, may ignite my own undergarments. I do not know how Katrina resists.” Ellyn giggles.
Katrina lifts her gaze, narrowing her eyes at her friend. “Do not look at him so,” she snaps.
Ellyn’s lips turn up into a large smile. “Give in to his advances. You’ll both feel better, and you’ll both loosen up, your faces are both screwed up and you’re wound so tight, it’s a wonder you can walk.”
“Ellyn,” Jasmine admonishes.
“What?”
Jasmine shakes her head and reaches for Katrina’s hand. “You do not give in to that man unless you want to. Only when you decide it’s what you want, not to make him happy, not for anyone or anything, but yourself.”
“I want him, but I know that I will want to keep him. Merek is the kind of man that I have fantasized about my entire life and I can never keep him,” she whispers.
My heart aches for her. It ached because just a few months ago I was her. I dreamt of finding a man, a good man, a strong one. Someone who was kind, but firm.
Someone who would see me and without a shadow of a doubt know that I was meant for him. A man who could make my body sing as loudly as my heart.
It hits me, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It’s like I imagine a shot of lightning would feel. My eyes close and then they open wide and I gasp for breath. Jasmine, Katrina, and Ellyn are right next to me. Taking my hands and holding on to me.
“Do you need a healer?” Jasmine shouts.
Shaking my head, I gasp for air again and inhale a deep breath. “Something isn’t right,” I whisper.
“What do you feel?” Ellyn asks, her voice calm.
I shake my head, my entire body trembling. “It’s Elias. I don’t know, something is going to happen, I just don’t know what but I feel pain in my stomach and it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before.”
“Get the witches,” Jasmine barks toward Katrina and Ellyn.
My stomach rolls again before a sharp pain explodes inside of me a second time. I cry out and I hear Jasmine shout somewhere in the distance. I feel my back arch, I pinch my eyes closed and color bursts from behind my lids.
“By the gods,” I hear a voice.
“Grip her arms, keep her from floating off,” another voice shouts. “Lock the door.”
“It hurts,” I whimper.
A hand presses to the center of my chest. A warming sensation fills me and it immediately calms my body. I let out a breath as the pain ebbs. My muscles relax and I turn my head, opening my eyes to see Godiva’s swirling gaze focused on me as her lips move rapidly.
“What happened?” Jasmine’s voice rasps.
“There was a change. I don’t know what, I could not see it. I could only sense it. The change, I’m not sure is good. I could sense another in her bloodline had made its way to this world, though I do not know who or where she has landed.”
Wrapping my hand around her wrist, she’s still pressing her palm against the center of my chest. “One of my sisters is here?”
Godiva nods her head, her eyes focused on me and no longer swirling with her magic spells. “I know not where, Your Highness. I cannot sense her whereabouts, only that she has crossed over somewhere in our world.”
I close my eyes in a very slow blink. “What is the change that you sense, is Elias okay?”
She gives me a sad smile. “I do not know. I only know that there is a change.”
“It has to do with him. I’m scared,” I whisper. “This war, it must have to do with the outcome.”
Aleida, who has been quiet, takes a step forward, her gaze flicks to mine and she sternly holds it. “Your King is the strongest warrior in this part of the world. He is the son of a traitor, many people thought that he would be like his father, but he’s already proven that he is not like the man who sired him. He will not leave you, Your Highness. He will always prevail.”
Her words are beautiful, the way she truly believes them is as well. But I know that it is not always the way life works out and the impending doom that I feel, the pain as though something was being ripped from inside of me, it was more intense than when Godiva cast the binding spell.
“Let’s get your hair washed, get you all cleaned up,” Katrina’s shaky voice suggests.
Holding the witches’ gazes, I arch a brow, but they give me nothing. If they sense the same doom that I do, then they are not going to tell me. Slowly, they back away and leave me alone with my girls.
Ellyn forces me to eat and drink while Katrina washes my hair. None of us say anything else the rest of the afternoon. Once I’m bathed, Katrina takes her time to dry and arrange my hair, while Ellyn and Jasmine unpack my trunks in the wardrobe.
Quietly, they leave me alone to wait for my king. With only a robe tied around my body, I walk over to the window and glance down. It’s so much different than Aerilon, but this seems like more of a country home and I find that I like the peace.
There are people bustling around, but they are busy preparing for war, on a normal day, without impending doom and destruction, I think that this would be a nice place to relax and unwind.
Though, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be back. I feel as though something very bad is on the horizon. If Elias is taken from me, if he is ripped from me, I have no doubt that the pain I experienced earlier will not hold a candle to what I will feel.
Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh. Warm hands slide around my waist and I feel lips touch the side of my ear. My entire body relaxes as I melt against the warm body at my back.
“You’re not naked, my queen,” his voice murmurs.
My lips turn up into a small smile as my hands wrap around the tops of his at my waist. “I am beneath the robe. I didn’t know when you would join me,” I admit.
His fingers toy with the sash that is tied around my waist. “I am here now,” he breathes as he unties the sash and opens the robe.
My entire body trembles in anticipation, the pain and fear that I felt only moments ago completely vanishes as my king’s hands come into contact with my naked flesh. His mouth touches the side of my neck, his tongue tastes me and he shifts his hips so that I can feel his hard length against my ass.
“Come to bed, Sybilla. Send me off with a night that I will never forget.”
Turning around in his arms, I lift my own to wrap around the back of his neck. “You’re leaving tomorrow.”
“My men were prepared. More so than I thought. We leave at first light.”
My entire body trembles, but this time for a different reason. I open my mouth to say something, to beg him to stay. My words die because he slants his head to the side, and touches his lips to mine, filling my mouth with his tongue.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ELIAS
Wrapping my fist around her hair, I tug her head back. Sybilla lets out a long exhausted moan as I sink inside of her body, again. Her body and mine are slick with sweat, my balls ache, her queynte no doubt does as well. We’ve been at this for hours, only breaking between to regain our strength.
I’m unsure of when I’ll have her again, how long I’ll be in Llyne fighting, so I take my fill from my wife, hopefully planting my heir inside of her as I do. One of my hands is wrappe
d around her hip, holding her up while the other holds up her head by gripping her hair.
Pumping into her body, I lean over and touch my mouth to her forehead. “You are a sight to see, Sybilla,” I rasp.
“I can’t come again,” she whimpers.
I grunt, slamming inside of her a bit harder, causing her body to shift forward. “You can. You will, because I demand it,” I snap.
She tries to shake her head, her eyes wide and her lips parted. “It’s too much. Too many times,” she whispers sounding weak.
Pulling out of her, I turn her over, cradling her in my arms before I crawl on my knees toward the headboard. Her head lolls to the side as I place her back against the wooden headboard of the bed.
Sliding my hands down the insides of her thighs, I spread her wide. “Feet flat on the bed, sweeting,” I gently demand.
She does as I ask, her lids heavy as she watches me, her breathing coming out in short pants. Crawling between her spread thighs, I guide my cock inside of her, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck before I jerk her closer to me.
Dipping my chin, I take her bottom lip between my teeth and gently tug on her flesh. “Elias,” she whimpers as I begin to move inside of her.
“Come again, My Queen. I need you,” I whisper against her mouth.
“I can’t.”
Grinning, I slide my tongue along the seam of her lips. “One hand on the headboard, the other between your legs,” I murmur.
She shakes her head, but doesn’t protest. She lifts one of her hands, turning it to grip the rail of the headboard. The other hand she slips between her sweat-soaked breasts and hisses as soon as she makes contact with her swollen nub.
“Now, make yourself sing for me, Sybilla,” I groan.
Keeping my mouth on hers, I pound into my queen. I take from her, more than I should. Burying my face against her neck, I taste her sweetness while I continue to take, my guilt ebbing as I search for my release.
Bride of the Traitor: A Prophecy of Sisters Novel Page 22