Page 31 of Till Kingdom Come

As if he knew this, he drew me into another kiss and then another, right there in front of everyone. Perhaps he was showing me there was nothing to feel embarrassed about, and I had as much right as anyone else to be happy and marry whomever I chose.

The reception was filled with food and drink. Bracca kept me close beside him, and never let me stray far from his arms. Even when we ate and drank champagne at the glittering reception his father gave us, he made sure I ate off his plate and drank from his glass. When the dancing started, he wouldn’t allow me to accept any of the ones who asked me to be their partners and kept me tightly by his side.

His father laughed at him and told him he should allow me to enjoy myself, but he shook his head and replied, “He’s fine where he is.”

Since he had pulled me into his lap at that point, there were more than a few bawdy comments, but he didn’t seem to care. We left the reception hall after that, but I was horrified to see that we were only escorted steps away to an adjoining chamber with a bed on a small dais. And a group of guests accompanied us.

“We are here to witness the consummation,” King Larek announced, and startled, I pulled my hand away from Bracca’s and turned to leave, feeling shocked and scandalized.

He pulled me right back. “This has to be done, Killian. It’s long-established protocol.”

“This is barbaric.”

“It happens often with royal marriages among mortals too. The idea with a woman is to make sure she’s a virgin. This is most definitely not that. But it’s still traditional. Get under the covers and get undressed. No one will see much of anything, and they’ll stay on the other side of the room, but this has to be done.”

He took me to the bed, put me under the cover and laid me down, stripping off my clothes beneath the covers without asking. Before I knew it, I was lying there naked, feeling vulnerable and embarrassed, though no one could see a thing. By then I was reconciled to the idea I no longer had any control over anything that was happening, and I really hadn’t all evening. Maybe I never would again.

“You look nervous,a chuisla,” Bracca whispered to me as he slid in next to me, his beautiful body bare and gleaming in the candlelight. “But this won’t be the first time I’ve made love to you.”

“The first time with an audience.”

He smiled and his mouth descended in a kiss so hot it made my mouth tingle. His moist tongue sought entrance, and a dangerous heat filled me as he stole my breath again.

“Ignore them. They know to be discreet and to stand back. I’ll keep you under the covers, and they won’t see a thing.”

I whispered to him. “You’re my-my husband now. And I’ve known you less than a week. I feel like this is all some kind of dream or maybe a nightmare.”

Bracca laughed and pulled me close, brushing aside the soft curls on my forehead and nuzzling the side of my face. I pulled the sheets over my face, and I heard him chuckle. Then he turned to me and his arms held me tight as his tongue rasped over the tips of my ears, making my breathing come hard and fast and my body throb with need. He burrowed us under the furs as his big hands caught my hips and settled me where he wanted me, and he probed the entrance of my body with his fingers. His cock was straining desperately against my leg, but he focused instead on my nipples, so close to his mouth. He leaned forward and licked them, and my entire body trembled. I cried out at the sensation, and he looked down at me, pleased and maybe a little surprised that I would be so noisy with people watching.

My nipples perked up and he shivered. I knew he wouldn’t hold off much longer and I didn’t want him to, because I wanted him desperately. I knew people were trying to listen, but we were underneath the covers, and I closed my eyes and tried to pretend they weren’t really there.

He reached beside me on the table by the bed for oil and made liberal use of it. Then he dipped his fingers inside me to gather some and then began massaging it over himself. He eased a couple of fingers inside me, and he touched the place inside that had lit me on fire the last time, stroking it lightly, delivering little shocks of pleasure. When he finally thought I was ready, he rolled me over and lay on top of me, settling me in place and moving me around as if I weighed nothing at all, but always making sure I was still under the blankets. I blushed furiously to be manhandled so, and he held onto me with fierce possessiveness when I struggled a bit. He thrust into me again and again, gently at first, and then stretching me wider and filling me up. I cried out, not really articulating words, but just making noises that seemed to make him even more excited. His heat was incredible, and he impaled me with slow, steady strokes. I reached around to touch him, and my hand dug into his muscular ass, as he buried himself deeply.

When I couldn’t hold back any longer, I felt myself go, little lights dancing behind my eyes as I came hard, spurting all over the sheets. I’d never felt anything like it. He followed me, but I kept thrusting into the mattress, wanting to find the same bliss again even though I knew I was probably too spent to come again. He fell down on top of me, and I turned toward him and held him tightly around his waist, never wanting him to ever leave me.

After a few moments, Bracca called out something in his language, and I could hear people begin to leave.

“What did you say?” I whispered fiercely to him.

“That you were untouched by anyone but me.”

Bracca got out of bed and put on a robe and told me he was going to speak to his father. He caressed my cheek and told me to rest. I didn’t think that was possible, but I did doze off.

He woke me a little later and picked me up in his arms. Everyone had left by then, and he carried me straight up to his room, wrapped in the blanket. It was the first time I’d been in his space, and I found it elegant and rich looking though he barely let me up for air long enough to take a good look at it. He kissed me again and again as soon as we got inside and took me right back to bed. Unfortunately, there had been too much excitement for me. I wanted to stay awake and make love to him again, but my eyes seemed to close all of their own volition. He tenderly wrapped me in his arms, and we fell asleep in his bed.

The next morning, we made love again, and then he left early to go check on his soldiers and begin making last minute preparations for our trip to the Elven city. I had the maids bring in the tub and some hot water so I could bathe. He came in as I was getting out of the tub and the maids were drying me off. He ordered them all out and took over the job himself. Thank goodness they’d had time to change the sheets before he got there, because I spent the rest of that day in bed in his arms. He said there had been a delay in getting started, and a subsequent change in plans. We’d leave first thing the next day. In the meantime, he was absolutely insatiable, but I had to admit I loved it.

I loved him, and I knew it was too soon. It was crazy, but I didn’t know what else to call this feeling. It was too big, too strong to be anything else. And I knew he didn’t feel the same, but it didn’t change the way I felt. Honestly, it wasn’t unfamiliar to me to love without being loved in return. And that wasn’t to say I felt sorry for myself or got maudlin about it. Plenty of people were in the same position—most of the other boys I’d known before I came to the Liminal were just like me. All of us were sons well out of the line of inheritance and therefore not heirs but spares, and therefore of little consequence. We weren’t of high enough rank to attract a wealthy man’s daughter, and most of us would simply disappear into dull lives in the military or the clergy.

For me in particular, I had been destined to live an uncharmed life up until I met Bracca. I preferred men. But those men would never be able to acknowledge me and could only give me a few stolen moments of their time at best. It was just the way things were, and I had accepted that long ago. In that regard, at least, marrying Bracca was luckier than I’d ever thought I would be. Bracca had announced to everyone that I was his consort, people had witnessed our marriage, and even our wedding night. If anyone had a problem with it, no one had dared to say anything. So perhaps I’d never have his love, but I had his attention, and that was almost as good. It would have to do.

Chapter Ten

We rode out around mid-morning, headed for the Elven capitol city of Daeneid, where most of the city residents lived in a vast system of caves due to the extreme weather. Daeneid was even farther north than the Dark Fairy land, though lying along the same coastline. It was farther north alongside the coastline of the Great Western Sea.

We were on the road to Daeneid for two long, frigid days when the wind never stopped blowing. I had my face buried in fur most of the trip and let the stag follow Bracca’s beast, just ahead of me. We stopped in the early evening to make camp and cook hot food, and the process was already beginning to become familiar to me.

“Why is it freezing here?” I asked Bracca when we stopped on the second night. I’d wrapped another fur around myself, in addition to my coat and I was still cold. “Is it this place that’s so much colder?”

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