The Emerald Prince (14 page)

The prince wanted to strangle him. If ever there was a worst time in history to discuss anything… “Fine. You win. I love you. I have for a while now. I was even a little jealous when I found out about you and Arayo. I want you to be mine, now and forever, because I’m unquestionably, undoubtedly, yours. Now get back to what you were doing before I kick you out of bed.”

Even in the dimly lit room, Elliot could see Blaine’s stupidly happy grin. “Yes, Your Highness,” the knight said before returning to the task of making Elliot feel so good he could die from the pleasure alone.

By the time Blaine reached for the oil on the bedside table, Elliot was boneless. So well-tended to, he was helpless to do anything but enjoy Blaine’s touch. The knight slipped in an oil covered finger, then another one with little resistance. Elliot moaned in response to these new pleasures.

Once he was opened, Blaine rolled him onto his back again, lifting his legs and pushing inside him. Elliot felt full. Not just from Blaine being inside of him. But from emotion too. What he said to Blaine about being in love with him was true. Sometimes it felt like he loved him too much. Like everything in his heart would overflow and drown him.

Blaine reached down and wiped a tear from his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Elliot reached up for Blaine, pulling him close, holding him tightly as they made love. He shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s right.”

Blaine smiled against his cheek, increasing his pace. Long, deep movements touched Elliot at his very core. Soon, Blaine’s thrust became erratic. Elliot knew he was getting close. He reached down and rubbed his manhood as Blaine drove into him.

They both came at the same time. Covered in sweat. Exhausted and panting. Blaine collapsed on Elliot’s chest. The prince felt empty when Blaine’s hardness slid out of him. They lay together, bodies entangled, until they fell asleep.

By morning, Elliot’s fear of impending doom was gone. Everything would work out for the best. His father would see the wisdom of his plan. He and Blaine would live happily together in a peaceful kingdom. Why wouldn’t they?

A knock at the door caused Blaine to stir awake. Elliot pulled the covers up over their nakedness.

“Come in.”

A young page Elliot recognized from the palace stumbled in, red-faced and panting. “Your Highness…Your Highness forgive me.”

“Take your time. There is no need to rush. Catch your breath then tell me what’s going on.”

The page took a gulp of air. Finally he was able to say what he’d come to say. “Your Highness, Princess Victoria has been thrown in prison for treason. She’s scheduled to be executed in six days.”

At first, Elliot thought it had to be some sort of trick. Why would anyone want to hurt Victoria? And execute her? For treason? A sick joke. His sister would never commit treason.

“Treason? What are you talking about?”

“She tried to assassinate the king’s future bride, Princess Zariya. But she failed and was captured and will soon be executed.”

All the color drained from Elliot’s face. After the initial shock faded, he glanced down at the pile of clothes on the floor from the night before. He jumped out of bed and shoved his legs in a pair of pants that were either his or Blaine’s.

“What are you going to do?” Blaine asked as he watched him from the bed.

“I’m going to home and save my sister, no matter what.”

Blaine got out of bed and starting sifting through the pile for his own clothes. “And I’m coming with you.”

Chapter Twenty Six

Victoria had never been so uncomfortable in her life. The dungeon was cold and damp. She’d been wearing the same dress for days and was forced to relieve herself in a bucket. Her only comfort was Lorr’s strong sturdy arms that held her in the darkness. She was so sorry she’d gotten him involved. Zariya would see him beheaded for no other reason than to hurt her.

She didn’t glance up as footsteps approached her cell. She knew what was coming. It came every day. The witch made sure Victoria was offered one meal and one meal only — a bowl of rhodda stew. The foul smell of it made Victoria’s stomach turn. The first day it came, she was sure it was poisoned. Lorr had to taste it to prove otherwise, but still she refused to eat it.

The guard slipped the bowl between the bars and then headed back upstairs. Neither Victoria nor Lorr moved to retrieve it.

“You must eat. You need your strength.” Lorr pleaded.

“We are scheduled to be beheaded in a few days. Why do I need strength for that?”

“You are not dead yet, we may still escape. But if you’re too weak when the time comes…”

“Escape how? Who will go against her? Even Marla is under her power. There is nothing that can be done.”

Lorr brushed a lock of hair behind Victoria’s ear. “For as long as you live, I will love you. Please give me more time to love you. Even if it’s days. Even if it’s hours.”

Victoria stared into his eyes. How could she deny him anything?

She left his arms for only a moment as she crawled across the floor to grab the bowl. She sat back down and lifted the spoon to her mouth. The smell was even worse up close, as if something had rotted and had then been boiled.

Victoria put the spoon in her mouth and her eyes shot open. It was good. Really good. She chewed the meat, wondering how anything that smelled so bad could taste so good. Lorr smiled as he watched her eat. She took a couple more bites, then lifted the spoon to his lips.

As they ate in the darkness, hope began to take root in Victoria’s heart. Maybe somehow, some way, they would survive. “In Nysib, how do people get married?”

“They see a lawyer who draws up a contract specifying the responsibilities of each party which usually expires after five years.”

Victoria’s mouth fell open. “You can’t be serious. No gods? No love? Just cold business?”

“People tend to seek out a marriage contract because they are in love and if the love lasts, they can always renew the contract for another five years.”

“That is unacceptable. I wanted to respect your beliefs and customs, but I’m not agreeing to a marriage that expires. Marriages are for life. We’ll just have to have an Entian ceremony.”

Lorr tilted his head to the side. “The contract can stipulate any terms both parties agree to, thus can be for life. But I’m a slave. I can’t enter into a marriage contract.”

“Here, you are as free as any other man. And as I’ve been sitting here, with my death days away, I’ve realize something. If I do die, I die with my principles intact. I’ve been saving my virtue for my future husband, and the more I get to know you, the more I realize you were worth waiting for. So if you really live for my happiness as you so love to claim, marry me and make me the happiest person in the kingdom.”

“Everything I am, is yours. Yes, I’ll marry you.” The empty bowl rolled from Victoria’s lap as Lorr pulled her close for a kiss.

For one moment, she was overwhelmed with joy. Then she remembered…they hadn’t been saved, yet.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Preparations to evacuate were being finalized when Blaine and Elliot left Storm’s Edge. Elliot thought they had moved quickly after they left the troops on their way there, but that had been a slow crawl compared to how fast they headed back.

Elliot hoped that somehow the news of his sister’s imprisonment was a misunderstanding. But when they met up with the army they’d left behind after a day’s ride, they once again confirmed the news that the king was engaged to Princess Zariya and Victoria was being held for having tried to poison her.

The prince ordered the army to turn around and march back to Tys. He barely stayed long enough for a meal before continuing his journey home. Blaine didn’t say much during their travels, his somber mood mirroring Elliot’s. But he managed to keep pace, and that was all that mattered. He had to talk sense into his father. No matter what she had done or tried to do, he would not allow his sister to be executed.

It took three days for them to reach Tys, a day faster than the quickest page. But Elliot had more motivation than the average courier.

As Elliot stormed inside the palace, he half expected the guards to try to stop him. After all, nothing was as it should have been. The Princess of Entia would not be in a dark, dank dungeon if things were how they should have been.

After reaching the main hall, the prince approached the nearest guard. “Where’s the king?” Not his father, but the king. Fathers didn’t execute their children, no matter what they’d done. Elliot would never think of him as a father again if anything were to happen to Victoria.

“He’s in the throne room, Your Highness.” After a moment’s hesitation the guard nervously added, “with the queen.”

Elliot glanced over to Blaine who looked just as concerned as he felt. “Has the wedding already taken place?”
Are we too late?

“No. The king just told us to call her…”

The prince turned on his heels and headed for the throne room. “If she hasn’t been crowned, then she’s not a queen.”

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see when he shoved open the ten foot high arched doors of the throne room, but Zariya sitting in his mother’s chair, wearing his mother’s crown with a satisfied smirk on her face was the last thing he imagined. She had betrayed him, encouraged his marriage to Blaine for no other reason than to seduce his father.

The king sat next to her. There were two men fumbling around with papers and sketches. Elliot recognized them. They were event planners. “My sister sits at death’s door, and you’re up here planning a party?” This wasn’t the man Elliot knew as his father. This was some madman who’d taken his form.

The king waved away the event planners who stepped aside while the king addressed his son. “No, they aren’t here for a party. They will be handling the wedding tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” How could he possibly stop this madness if he only had a day? “And why do you need event planners? Why aren’t you going to the temple?”

“The High Priestess says that no one can take The Walk at the moment, that there are ill omens in the runes and only priests will be allowed into the temple until the dark time passes.”

“And you’re going to circumvent the High Priestess’s ruling by holding the ceremony here?” That edged on heresy. What happened to the king in Elliot’s absence?

“Zariya doesn’t share the same beliefs as we do. We’ll have the ceremony overseen by a priest, and that way it’ll be a legal union.”

Barely.
“This is insanity. You need to release Victoria and forget about this marriage before Isla burns you down in your own palace.”

The king strode over to Elliot and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. I know you’re upset. But you weren’t here. Victoria attempted to murder the future queen. The choice is out of my hands. As much as it saddens me, she must die for what she’s done.”

The prince couldn’t believe his own ears. “What do you mean you can’t do anything? You’re the king! You have the power to do whatever you want. If you decide to free her, then she’s free.”

“And what if she attempts to hurt Zariya again?”

“Then make her swear not to. If Victoria makes a vow, she’ll keep it no matter what. Or send her away. That way she can’t hurt anyone. Let me talk to her. I can get her to promise not to cause any trouble.”

The king sighed and sat back down. The strain in his face, the slump of his shoulders, made it look like he was pained from his choice, but Elliot knew that couldn’t be true. The king could free Victoria any time he wanted. “If I let you talk to her, things will only be more difficult. She can’t be reasoned with, and you will feel guilty that you’ve failed to help her.”

Blaine cleared his throat. “Perhaps, Elliot and I could take Victoria to Raven’s Flight. That way she’d be too far away to hurt the future queen and you could spare her life.”

The king shot up. “And let you hold my daughter hostage? Never!”

Elliot tilted his head, studying the king. Nothing his father did was making any sense. One moment he was determined to kill her, the next he was determined to protect her. Something was definitely wrong. And Zariya had yet to say a word. She was letting the king do all the talking, but she probably had more to do with Victoria’s imprisonment than she was letting on.

“Father, you can’t marry that woman. Not only is she sullied, I’ve bedded her myself, several times.” Elliot didn’t like using Zariya’s sexual freedom against her. After all, it was one of the things he had admired about her. But the situation was desperate, and he would do whatever needed to be done.

The party planners gasped at the revelation but quickly closed their mouths when everyone looked at them. The king took Zariya’s hand in his and patted the back of it. “I know. She told me. And I don’t care. I love her and I’m going to marry her.”

Even Blaine’s mouth fell open at the king’s declaration. A king marrying a woman who not only wasn’t a virgin but had been bedded by his son — they had now entered the realm of impossibility.

Zariya rose from his mother’s throne and slowly approached Elliot. “I know this is confusing for you. I know you probably feel hurt and betrayed. But please believe me when I say I want nothing more than your happiness. I will do everything I can for this family, to ensure it prospers.”

Zariya reached out to cup Elliot’s cheek, but Elliot grabbed her by the wrist. “And what about Victoria? Are you doing everything you can to make sure she prospers?”

Elliot flung Zariya’s arm away from him like it was rotten garbage, then stomped out the throne room with Blaine following quickly behind.

“What are we going to do now?” Blaine asked.

“We are going to get my sister out of that cell. We’ll get her out tonight and leave for Raven’s Flight. Will your father fight to protect her?”

“A legitimate claim to the throne and a reason to call for war. Unfortunately for the kingdom, he’ll be thrilled.”

Elliot sighed. After all he’d done to protect the kingdom from civil war, in the end his actions would plunge them into it.