Page 94 of The Princess's Chosen

"Mm, it doesn't say." Wendell shrugged, and we shared a look. "I think it's reasonable to say—"

"The Hunger," we concluded together.

I blew out a long breath and sank back in the chair. I'd found Wendell an office of his own. He was my Chosen, but he was also my most capable diplomat, just as Aric was my personal mage. Plus a nice cozy study was much easier to heat in winter than the entire library.

"Where did she come from?" I asked.

"That's what I haven't learned yet, but she added a good deal of the mountain territories to Kimmery, so that's my best guess so far," Wendell said, coming to lean against his desk and giving me a lovely long angle of man to gaze at. "What's interesting is that she didn't just kill the king and take his throne. She killed him, and then married his son."

"Easiest way to be sure the family line wouldn't try to resurrect itself," I said, shrugging.

Wendell's lips quirked. "That was my thought. They had a daughter, and then Queen Euphorbia married five more men and her first husband died. The book takes special note to mention natural causes."

"Oh." I frowned, thinking of the way Camellia could wear a man down to nothing with her Hunger. Was that a natural cause?

"There's been no interruption since, although there was a heavier history of war for a number of centuries. Kingdoms testing the queen's line's strength."

"All of this still leaves the council as a bit of a new addition," I said.

Wendell nodded. "The family names remain nearly identical throughout the history of the council. What I can't quite determine is whether or not its invention was the reigning queen's idea or the council's."

"Theideaof the council doesn't sound terrible," I admitted. I often thought of my Chosen as my own council now. They were indispensable to me in every way, including my political role.

"True. And there were always advisors," Wendell said, flipping through pages, his brow furrowing as his ankles crossed. He sucked his teeth as he thought, and I tried to focus on the subject of ruling and not the purse of his lips. "The problem with Kimmery's council is that it only represents a small fraction of Kimmery's people. You know, in Noren, the people are able to elect representatives for themselves. They even break it up, smaller regions than simply north and south. It might potentially weaken your rule—"

"If it were fairer to the public of Kimmery, I would rather be the one to facilitate my own position's failure, than leave everything in the hands of the council as it currently stands," I said.

"The idea alone would win you favor to start with. Noren's king resisted at every step and would have had a revolution if it wasn't for his son stepping forward and smoothing communication. They're more figureheads now, but we if we approached this from the right angle… You'll need allies in the aristocracy. There's no way around it, I think. And we'll have to be quick now because…"

I lost the thread of Wendell's speech as I drank in the flush rising in his cheeks and the excited fidget of his feet as he rattled off ideas for new shifts in Kimmery's government. His sunny blue eyes lit up, and all at once I found myself on my feet, pressing myself up the long line of him, pinning him to the edge of the desk as I reached up for his face and dragged it down to mine.

Wendell made a soft sound of surprise, and then the book dropped to the floor with a careless thunk as his arms circled my waist and he leaned into the kiss, licking at my lips and gasping as I sucked on his tongue. He groaned and his hands gripped me tighter, my body arching into his taller frame as we kissed endlessly, until we were both catching our breath even as we tried to take more.

"I find your mind very stimulating," I breathed, Wendell's lashes fluttering against mine.

"Oh, really? Should I tell you my feelings on the rise of the social democracy in Samp-mph!"

I braced a knee on the edge of the desk and then jumped up, forcing Wendell back and down into the mess of papers covering the surface. He laughed and groaned as I pinned him down, settling myself onto his lap and tearing at his buttons.

"I thought you were joking! Thao says I drone," Wendell said, grinning and pulling my skirts out of the way.

"It comes undone on the side," I breathed, pushing Wendell's shirt open. His skin was growing lighter now that summer was over, and I leaned down and pressed my face to his collarbone, biting gently and taking a deep breath of the airy clean smell of him. I rocked on his lap and smiled as his groan vibrated against my cheek.

"Do you want to find the others?" Wendell asked, voice ragged.

I paused in my gentle feast of his flesh on the way to nibble on his nipple and then sat up, finding his dizzy expression. "Doyouwant to find the others?"

Had it ever been just Wendell and I? Things had been a little mad since…well, since we'd gotten back from the festival. Things were finally slowing down, hours returning to our routine where we could focus on the minute details of my rulership. Hours I got to spend getting to know Wendell more deeply in all his curiosity and open-mindedness and thirst for understanding. And now I thirsted for him.

His smile softened and he leaned up on one elbow, reaching his other hand up to brush at my cheek. "If I have the chance to keep you to myself, I absolutely want to."

I smiled down at him and twisted, raising my arm. "Undo the button."

He did, and then pushed my hands away as he unwrapped the plum-colored dress from around me as if I were a present. His eyes turned a deeper shade of blue as I shrugged the sleeves down my arms and let the dress fall to the floor with a soft liquid rush of fabric, hurrying to pull my slip off over my head. I reached down for the laces of my stockings and garter, and Wendell stopped my hands again, his smile growing feline and hungry.

"Leave those. You look gift wrapped," he said, words throaty and dark as he snapped a tie against my thigh.

I raised myself up on my knees, helping Wendell with his waistband, reaching immediately for his cock as he bounced beneath me, shoving his pants down his thighs. Wendell's golden chest heaved as I teased my fingertips up and down his length, his head falling back with a long groan as my other hand cupped his sac in a way I'd observed from Thao and Cosmo.

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