The Duty of a Queen (4 page)

She ran her hands up Oliver's muscular arms to the back of his neck,
pulling him down so that their mouths touched. She felt his surprise that she
had initiated the kiss, and smiled, parting his lips with her tongue. She
explored his mouth slowly even as he moved inside her. He started when Jonas's
hand took Astrid's and placed it on his back, but he made no move to protest.

“Mark him, my princess,” Jonas's voice was soft in her ear. “Make
him ours.”

As Oliver rolled his hips, making contact with that same spot inside
Astrid, her body stiffened and she raked her nails down the prince's back. He
yanked his mouth from hers, his cry mingling with hers as the pleasure took
them. He pulsed inside her, his seed mingling with Jonas's. She tightened
around him, drawing out their release as their bodies shook and her world
became gray.

She woke not much later, wrapped in her lovers' arms. Her back was
against Jonas, his familiar form curled over hers. Oliver faced her, his arms
wrapped around both she and Jonas, three sets of legs entwined.

“We will need to dress and go to the deck soon.” Oliver broke the
silence. “My father will be waiting for our arrival.”

The thought that had been teasing at the back of Astrid's mind from
the moment Oliver had told her of his father's villainy came forward now. If
the ceremony of three had not happened, she did not think she would have had
the courage to speak, but she knew now that the prince could be trusted, and
that she wanted to help him.

“My prince,” she began slowly. “Before, when you spoke of your
father, you had said that you would have killed him, given the chance.”

Oliver's expression grew serious. “It would have been rash, and most
likely cost me my life, but yes, that I what I had intended. My father is an
evil man, but he does have his friends. To eliminate my father and survive, one
must eliminate the nobles to whom he is closest, a feat that I am sad to say I
am unable to accomplish.”

Astrid felt Jonas's arms flex around her waist, and she knew that he
understood her intentions. It had always been that way between them, knowing
the other's thoughts.

“If I could provide means to do that which needs to be done, would
you accept?”

Oliver studied her for a moment before giving his answer.

***

The people truly loved their prince, Astrid had seen immediately.
They had greeted she and Jonas with love and acceptance, not once rejecting
their arrangement. Everywhere they traveled, the people cheered and shouted
accolades. Jonas had even said that the people here loved Oliver as the People
of the Grey Stones loved Astrid.

Now, as she stood between her husbands and looked out over the sea
of people beneath them, she knew that this land and hers would flourish under
their new king. It had taken the full change of a moon, but she had kept her
pledge to her prince. Six days had passed since the king and his nobles had
succumbed to an unknown illness, and it was time for the heir to be crowned.

Astrid and Jonas linked hands as they watched the crown be lowered
onto Oliver's head. The crowd below roared in approval. They did not know it
yet, but they would soon have another reason to celebrate. Astrid's free hand
pressed against her belly. It was still flat and she had not yet received
confirmation, but she knew the truth. While there would be other children, the
two lives that grew inside her now would bring together these two nations. She
could almost see them, one fair-haired, the other with locks the color of a
raven's wing. Her sons.

It was odd, she thought, how something that she had believed would
rob her of everything she had ever wanted, had led her to what she truly
desired. This, she thought, was only the beginning.

THE END