Page 111 of Knightfall
One of Ryan’s hands abandoned my breasts, swirled down over my stomach, and started sliding over my opening. Up and down. Up and down. He spread my lips slightly and slid his finger just below them, still caressing my center. Up and down. He added a back and forth motion as he went, tracing a literal lightning bolt over my pussy. I shuddered against him.
“Yes,” I breathed, when our kiss broke and he lifted me off the ground so he could suckle a breast, one hand holding my back, the other maintaining friction on my core. Having a half giant hold me suspended, vulnerable in midair, while he fully controlled my body—the very thought of it made me wild. That I could buck and kick and scream and no matter what, he was completely in control. And I was completely safe with him.
Ryan twisted his fingers. Sensation shot out to my thighs in warm ribbons. And then in shocking bolts. I started to buck against him, to ride his hand.
“Yes, Ryan!” I whispered his name.
He kept up the movement against my clit with his thumb as he slid a finger into me. That send me over the edge and I screamed, bucking hard against his hand, drawing out the moment, the mindless haze of sensation. Until it faded and I collapsed, my head falling to Ryan’s shoulder.
“That was quite a show,” Declan’s dry voice made my eyes pop open.
My other husbands stood, watching, as Ryan slowly let me slide to the floor. Ryan grinned at them. Then he stuck his wet fingers in his mouth.
Connor moaned.
Ryan smacked his lips as he pulled his fingers out. “I was just rewarding our wife. She came up with a plan for Willard and Lady Agatha.”
“Good.” Declan nodded curtly. “Because we have one for Abbas.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Shite. Shite this is heavy, I thought.
I made my way to the Great Balcony at the front of the palace, where my coronation would be held, so that the crowds gathered below could see.
The stupid golden collar of my dress was as high as my head and served as a blinder, so I couldn’t see behind me unless I turned my entire body. The dress I wore was a daringly low-cut gold brocade, sewn with so many pearls that I felt I might as well be wearing armor. Armor that was so heavy it was about to fall forward and expose my nipples to the entire kingdom. I cursed my mother and the dressmaker, who had conspired together to create this awful ‘statement piece.’ And even as I cursed them, tears filled my eyes. This was the last thing my mother had done that I could curse. I fingered the sleeve of my dress, as if touching it would somehow connect me to her.
The sun was setting in the distance, painting the sky a blushing pink. Burnt orange clouds hovered above the horizon. The sky was too beautiful for the day. But the wind, the wind was just right. The wind bit at my eyes. It turned my nose red and chapped my lips. I stepped to the rail of the balcony and waved as I was supposed to. I gazed down at my people. They smiled and laughed and joked with one another. Nobles and commoners from the capital Marscha mingled together. They carried lanterns, wore fur-lined hats, and held steaming mugs of hot cider passed out by vendors. The sweet scent of warm apples drifted up to me where I stood. I inhaled, wishing I could share in their joy.
Instead, I waved, with a painted-on smile as I watched those who had gathered to swear allegiance to the new queen. Sometime in the past, someone had decided that continuity was more important that heartbreak. Stability was more important than mourning. Evaness couldn't go a single full day without a new queen.
I would be crowned before the sun dipped below the horizon.
I saw Ryan’s contingent below. I spotted Lady Agatha, who looked rather tipsy. My lips curved at that, assuming Quinn’s people had helped her along, so she could start spouting nonsense. Willard was nowhere to be seen. She kept trying to speak with Lord Aiden and his wife, and the pair kept edging away from her.
The other nobles from the other provinces all had at least one member representing them.
The ambassadors from the seven kingdoms all stood together. I gave a polite nod to Meeker, determined not to show the anger I felt. I quickly moved on to smile to Mateo and his father and the delegation from Macedon.
Then I made a game of smiling at Ryan’s contingent of palace guards and random commoners. Until I spotted Kylee in the crowd and couldn’t resist a happy wave. Not that the tavern owner remembered me as myself. But he seemed delighted to have gotten a smile from the queen. And so at least there was that.
I also gave a discreet wave to one woman in the crowd who wore a hood. The woman I’d asked Ryan to fly out and fetch this afternoon. The woman I’d decided would be my new castle mage.
Cerena nodded back at me, signaling that everything was ready.
I bit down on my grin and focused once more on my people.
Seeing the crowd below me only increased my sense of responsibility. Only increased the weight of the crown. It made me more certain that I needed to quash the threats I faced in order to keep them safe. The innocents below knew nothing of the perils that plagued Evaness. Nothing about how we teetered on the precipice of war. They knew nothing of my fear or the twisting misery that crawled through my stomach, pinching and showing no mercy. My sweet people only saw their Beast Tamer Queen, about to take her crown. That’s what Connor told me the locals had started calling me. My stomach roiled.
This plan better work, I worried internally, though I smiled brightly.
I didn’t look at my knights or Avia, knowing they were standing off to my side, tense and hopeful. They all stood in full armor, except Quinn, who wore his traditional black, along with a clean and gleaming elven chain around his neck.
Knowing it was there made my fingers twitch, eager to rip the evil thing right off him. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
Abbas appeared at my side. I hadn't even seen him approach.
"Your Majesty, your personal butler, Jorad, has asked me to have the honor of escorting you up to the platform as you are crowned,” he leaned closer than was necessary to speak softly into my ear.
