“I can’t imagine that King James wants to show his face much in front of the goddess,” I said. “So Doctor Milton hiding under her protection doesn’t surprise me.”“Not to mention, living as a monk in that northern temple seems like punishment on its own,” Charles threw in.“It’s not if you’re devout,” I countered. “But I suppose for a doctor, it might be punishing. He probably lived quite the life of luxury before all of this happened.”Mabel nodded. “Not that he deserved to be punished. My son
I woke in the morning with my head feeling like it weighed at least twice what it usually did. This jet lag was really catching up with me.When I sat up, the room swam a bit, and I had to sit still for a moment, blinking until everything had righted itself.“Is everything all right?” Charles asked.I nodded. “Just jet lag,” I said. “All of this trouble we’ve been dealing with... It’s caught up with me.”He kissed my forehead. “I just wanted to mak
I left my shoes at the entrance to the temple’s interior and traded them for some of the reed sandals offered to guests. Then, I followed the monk deep into the inner recesses of the moon temple grounds.They had small gardens, still bare because of the elevation. Spring wasn’t even close to on its way here, but at least it was ice-free. When we reached the moon pool, a man with silver hair tied back in a ponytail at the back of his head cleaned debris from the water with a skimmer.The monk who led me up there cleared his throat. “Monk Blythe,” he said. “You have a visitor.”
“The moon goddess actually showed up at the baby’s birth,” Monk Blythe explained. He sighed and rubbed his face, then recrossed his arms. “I’m getting ahead of myself. I should probably explain how we got to the birth of the child. Because the poor thing certainly didn’t make it to term.“She was close, in her last trimester, but not ready to give birth yet when it was apparent that Queen Rosemary was succumbing to the poison. King James had been slandering her for their entire marriage, telling the entire Kingdom of Orlune how weak and inferior she was. The couple never even announced her pregnancy.“But honestly, Q
With nothing to do to get rid of those flutters except take the test and prove to myself that I wasn’t really pregnant, I climbed from the bed and headed into the bathroom. I did my business, following the instructions and left the test in there, coming back to sit on the edge of the bed and wait until the timer on my phone beeped.“We never really got a chance to finish our discussion,” Monk Blythe said in a low voice. “There were some things that I needed to warn you about aside from just your personal safety. Because even though I’m positive I know who ordered the poison given to the late Queen Rosemary, I don’t know who the actual poisoner was.
Charles stared at me, starting to look worried. “Are you sure you’re telling me everything?” he asked. “Because you certainly don’t look okay. You’re pale and clammy.”“I still feel a little ill,” I admitted. “But I think that’s to be expected given everything.”“Why don’t you take a nap?” He practically pushed me into the bed, pulling back the covers and stuffing me in.He started to undo my clothing, and I pushed his hands away. “That’s not going to happen right now.”
I lowered myself to my knees in front of Charles, crowded up against his legs by the tight space in the spa’s changing room. But there was more than enough room for me to take him in my mouth and begin working his shaft.I slowly circled the head with my tongue, taking care to tickle the rim with my tongue before sucking the whole mushroom-shaped tip with as much suction as I could get. Then, I slowly took the length into my mouth and back out again.He sighed and then groaned, lacing his fingers through my hair, across the back of my head, and guiding a rhythm. I paused at the sound of voices entering the changing area and then resumed working my mouth arou
I was going to have to come to terms with the fact that I was probably pregnant, and this was probably morning sickness. And it probably explained why I’d been so tired. But the hope that I wasn’t still kept tangling up my will to talk to Charles about it.Perhaps the doctor would call back and tell me that these were all just my fears getting the better of me. I was sick and nothing more.Then again, at the very least, Charles deserved to share this with me. And maybe sharing with him would help relieve some of the anxiety that I was feeling.My phone rang out in the be
For one moment after I arrived in the garden, the sun blinded me, and then my eyes cleared. Before me spread an amazing event: the wedding of our country's princess.It still hadn't fully sunken that I was that princess.The guests sat in orderly rows of brilliantly white chairs festooned in lovely shades of blue and lavender. I had chosen them because they most reminded me of the moon, and I wanted to honor the goddess at this event, as well. Without her, I would not only not have been at this wedding, but I wouldn't have been alive. She had done so much for me. The least I could do was throw a little recognition her way.I clutched the bouquet in my hand, and Theo hooked his arm through my elbow. “Are you ready?” he asked.“I'm ready.”We took a step toward the altar on the red carpet spread out in front of me, and the music swelled. The quartet played a beautiful melody full of promise and love.I didn't see the people looking at me, specifically, only that all eyes were on me. My
I signed and kept my head tipped back, inviting him to kiss my neck. Charles obliged, working himself inside me with the magic he always seemed to conjure up, driving my excitement higher. My heels fumbled for a place to rest, and finally, I settled for wrapping my legs around him, gripping his hips with my thighs and locking us together.Charles groaned and pulled us as tightly together as possible. And I wouldn't let him go. This left his movements small but the pleasure intense.His rubbing quickly brought me to orgasm, and I tried not to make too much noise and call attention to what we were doing. I really didn't want to be held in contempt for defiling the judge's bench or some such.A moment later, Charles got his release. He stepped back and tided himself, allowing me to do the same.“Now,” he asked with a grin, “Are you ready to go outside and face your adoring public, my princess?”“As long as you're by my side, I can face anything,” I agreed, hopping off the judge's bench.
“Of course,” Queen Yarrow said, “details like training successors aren't left to chance. The king and I already had arrangements made for a royal tutor, assuming that I would get pregnant one day. I'll connect you both with him. Hopefully, you can get started right away.”“So?” I asked the judge. How exactly does this work? What do you mean? She asked, looking quizzically at me. “I mean, what do I do with myself? Where do I go from here? When does all of this happen now?”She said, “The king will be escorted out of Orlune. They're probably already helping him pack. From there, he'll be on the next flight off the vampire kingdom. You get to move straight into the castle if you wish. It's essentially your house now.”“There's no, there's no legal paperwork or anything like that?” I babbled. “It just seems so abrupt.”The judge grinned. “I'll have all of that taken care of taken care of for you. So you don't have to worry about it, your majesty.”“Come, my dear,” Queen Yarrow said, putti
By now, the king’s lawyer had a hand on his shoulder, whispering furiously in his ear. The king gripped the arms of his chair so hard his knuckles were white. And if he could have turned people to stone with a look like a gorgon, the judge and I would already be statues.Still, the judge spoke as if unafraid. “The former king will serve out his sentence off the shifter continent, in the vampire countries,” she announced.A murmur went up from everyone in the gallery at that, but the judge held up her hands. “I chose that location specifically. It has been a standing tradition for generations upon generations that vampires and werewolves do not get involved in one another's politics.”“I would imagine he will find it very difficult to sway anyone into doing his dirty work for him in a country that holds itself neutral. Thereby providing anyone in Orlune that the king feels has wronged him in the safest position that I am able to leave them in.”Further murmurs rose up from the crowd, a
I hadn't even caught my breath when Charles scooped me up in the hardest hug I'd ever gotten from him. It was so hard that it almost drove the remaining air from my lungs.The rest of that morning flew by as Charles and Gwen helped me to avoid questions I couldn't answer from the press while Theo, David, and the other four guards pushed a path through the paparazzi so we could navigate our way back to the safehouse.We decided it was better to stay there than go back to our apartment, yet, at least until we made sure that any of the king's remaining supporters were under control.Gwen wore a mysterious smile on her face for the rest of that night and into the following morning. But I couldn't get her to confess to what she was up to. We'd barely finished breakfast when someone knocked on the door.Gwen hurried to answer it and admitted two people who took my breath away. One of them was Cathy!Since I didn't know the other, I ran straight to Cathy, hugging her as tightly as I could. T
It took me a long time to fall asleep that night, plagued both by worry and growing apprehension over how the next day was going to play out. It could end up being the longest, most brutal day of my life, if I had to spend it waiting and wondering what the jury was going to decide.Worse, what if they took weeks? Months? I’d go crazy before I found myself free from this mess.When we woke in the morning, Charles distracted me by teasing me in every possible way before bringing me to yet another overwhelmingly intense orgasm. I would never have thought that pleasure and pain could be such close neighbors, but he managed. However Charles and I were connecting in bed right now, it was certainly coming very close to more than I could handle.Theo must have told the chef what my favorite foods were because when Charles and I left the bedroom, breakfast was waiting for us. And it was one of my favorites. Belgian waffles with lots of fresh strawberries and whipped cream.I sat down and ate r
I kissed Charles, and he pulled back, eyeing me. “Should we be careful or anything?” he asked. “You know, for the baby.”I shrugged. “It's not like I've been pregnant before, but I would guess not. The doctor didn't say anything about that.”“And you haven't even searched things like that online yet?”I shook my head. “How could I? I've been so busy, not to mention the fact that I'm trying to keep certain people from finding out.”“Then we'll go slow and be careful,” he said.His kisses came soft and gentle, and his caresses all over my body were the same. Keeping secrets from him had been a bad idea. Now that they were out in the open, just these small touches made the connection between us feel so much more real as if I had closed some invisible distance between the two of us.This drove me to smash our lips together, desperately seeking the rest of the connection that I hadn't even realized I'd been missing.He chuckled and pushed me back. “What happened to taking it easy?” he teas
All of a sudden, a whisper of a breeze rippled through the courtroom and around my head, whispering reassurance in my ear. This breeze wrapped itself around me and then swirled out into the courtroom, where it produced an answering wind of murmuring whispers. Suddenly, everyone was shaking their heads, turning toward one another. Members of the jury shook their heads as if trying to clear them.Again, I heard a whisper in my ear, and I recognized the voice of the moon goddess. “Don't fear,” was all she said. And then her presence was gone. But the entire courtroom, everybody in the gallery, the jury, the judge, the lawyers, and even the king had all relaxed.The judge brought her gavel down and dismissed the jury to go deliberate. But this time, I wasn't frightened. The goddess had never steered me wrong yet. And she told me not to fear, that I needed to trust her and the fate surrounding her and me.I scurried out of the witness stand and back to my spot beside Mr. Wilcox. “What was
When I exited the bathroom, the importance of the day hit me in full measure. Today I was going to court. What and God's name was I supposed to wear?Someone knocked on the door, and I wrapped my towel tighter. “In a few minutes,” I called.“Elena?” I recognized Gwen's voice. “I brought you a suit for today. May I come in?”“Yes,” I said.She opened the door and entered the bedroom.“I'm just fresh out of the shower.” I bit my lip, feeling foolish. As if she couldn't gather that by my wet hair. But I seem to need something to fill the silence.She held up a garment bag. “You'll want to look your best today,” she said.I let Gwen dress me, taking comfort in the fact that she knew her way around important functions as a luna. When she finished, she grabbed my face and gave my forehead a kiss.“Do exactly what the lawyers, Charles, and I tell you to,” she said. “I don't want you to leave my son a widower before he's even officially married.”I patted her hands, which still rested on my c