Sold to the Prince of the Meldanians

by Hollie Hutchins

  “No,” she said. “I’m just a friend. Of Eldan. I’m a friend of the Prince. He should be with him. Maybe you could call up to the room and tell Eldan I’m here. He can vouch for me.”

  She went to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of an alarm going off somewhere else in the building. Nurses rushed from what appeared to be their break room and ran in the direction of the sound. The man looked down at a large panel sitting on the desk in front of him. There were small lights, lined up in rows, under which was written room numbers and what Amelia guessed were the names of the people staying in each room. The light at the very bottom, left corner was flashing. The sticker underneath read “Ernad.”

  “It’s the King,” said the man in a flustered voice, eyes wide. “He’s flatlined.”

  Amelia didn’t hesitate. She took off in the direction all the nurses had run and caught up to them about halfway up the first flight of stairs, on their way to the second level. By the time they arrived at King Ernad’s room, another nurse was already there, standing over the King’s body, wearing a defeated expression.

  Two nurses were standing in front of Amelia, so she had to elbow her way past. “Eldan!” She saw him sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, his head in his hands. “Eldan.” She ran to his side and wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

  “He’s gone,” the Prince said. “She tried to revive him, but it was his time.” He sounded like he was far away. Amelia couldn’t shake the feeling that she was talking to someone physically there but mentally on a different plane.

  “I’m so sorry.” It was all she could think to say.

  “Like I said, it was his time.” Eldan let out a long, tired breath and laid his head on Amelia’s shoulder. “I wish you could have met him.”

  “Me too,” she said.

  She saw the recording device was still set up at the foot of the King’s bed. She stood up and pressed the button on the side, and picked both it and the tripod up. It was awkward, trying to hold that and also reach out for Eldan’s hand, but Amelia wasn’t going to let anyone else take the camera. She didn’t know what footage was saved on here, but she knew, at this point in time, she didn’t want anyone besides her and Eldan seeing it.

  “Do you want to stay?” she asked the Prince. “I can stay with you.”

  He shook his head. “I want to go home.” He stood up and walked over to the bed, letting go of Amelia’s hand. Once at his father’s side, Eldan reached out and moved some of the gray hair from his father’s face and kissed him on his sunset-colored forehead. “Goodbye, dad. Don’t worry, I’m going to make you proud.”

  That night, Amelia thought it was best to give Eldan some space. When they got back to the mansion, he went straight to his bedroom and locked the door. She spent the afternoon looking through the footage of the Prince and the King’s conversations from the last few days. There was nothing politically useful in any of it, but that didn’t stop Amelia from re-watching it for hours. She loved seeing the interactions between Eldan and his dad—the Prince was so gentle and patient with Ernad. The old man was very forgetful, sometimes completely out of it, and Eldan never got frustrated or raised his voice.

  His dad knew who Eldan was, most of the time, but he had no clue how old his son was, or what was going on in Meldania. He often referred to things that happened years back, as if they were going on right then. Eldan spent a lot of time reading to his dad, and telling him stories to help him remember aspects of his life he may have forgotten. Amelia always started the recordings over when she got to the footage of that morning. It was too painful for her to watch the last moments Eldan had with his father; especially considering he didn’t know they were going to be his last.

  She knew she would have to watch it eventually, to make sure there wasn’t anything in there that shows the King’s stance on the human population of Meldania, but not today. That could wait.

  As the sun set, Amelia finally got the nerve to go knock on Eldan’s door. To her surprise, he opened up right away. His eyes were puffy, prompting her to think he’d been crying, but otherwise he was acting oddly hyper.

  “Come in, come in,” he waved her inside. “I was just about to come talk to you.”

  “How are you?”

  He frowned at her, as if she had just asked him what his favorite stuffed animal was when he was a kid. “I’m fine,” he said. “I need to prepare.”

  “Prepare for what, exactly?” Amelia approached Eldan cautiously. She reached out to put a hand on his back, but he moved away from her at the last second and started pacing in front of his bed.

  “For the fight. With Lendir.”

  “What?” Amelia said. “You can’t possibly be thinking about that right now.”

  “I have to think about it right now! It will happen sometime in the next few days.”

  “Days?” Amelia gawked. “But your dad just died. Isn’t there like a sort of… grace period?”

  “Lendir and my mother will insist on having it as soon as possible.” He pointed a determined finger at her. “And I will not ask for more time. It is a sign of weakness, and I cannot afford to look weak at a time like this.”

  “Can you at least give yourself one night?” Amelia said, sitting down on the bed. “Deal with all this in the morning. For now, just let yourself grieve. If you don’t, you’re going to go crazy.”

  “Don’t you get it!” he yelled and threw his hands up in the air, as if the key to understanding what he was grappling with was floating right above his head. “I can’t let myself grieve or I won’t be able to stop. If I let the reality of what happened this morning really sink in, I will never beat Lendir.”

  “But—”

  “Please!” he said. “Please, don’t talk about this anymore.” His voice cracked. He brought his hands back down by his sides and leaned his weight against the wall by his bed. “I can’t think about this anymore.” He sunk down to the floor and sighed. Amelia knew his anger wasn’t directed at her, and besides, he just lost the most important person in his life. The Prince was allowed to act out.

  She went and sat next to him. “I’m just worried about you,” she said. “That’s all.”

  He looked at her and stared into her eyes like he never had before. He seemed to penetrate her mind with his look. He was looking inside her for something—answers maybe? Comfort? She wasn’t sure she had any. She sifted through dozens of sentiments and words of wisdom, looking for the best thing to say, but came up short. Instead, she held his gaze, hoping just being there would be enough.

  It was.

  He closed the space between them and kissed her. His lips were salty, the taste of dried tears. Amelia waited a moment before kissing him back. She wasn’t sure if he was just using her as a much needed distraction. She wouldn’t blame him if he was. She was no stranger to distracting oneself from pain. But she couldn’t be his distraction. Some other woman would have to do that. She wanted more—needed more.

  He stopped kissing her, it likely only now dawning on him that she wasn’t exactly into it. “Is something wrong?” he asked. His eyes were swimming.

  “I don’t think we should do this,” said Amelia. “You’re going through something and I want to be here for you, however I can, but this feels like an escape. It doesn’t feel real, and if this is going to happen, I need it to be real.”

  The Prince leaned back against the wall and smiled. “Of course this is real.” Amelia watched him while he looked straight ahead, into some thought bubble she wasn’t privy to. “Just like my feelings for you are real. And the only reason they are boiling over the surface now, is not because I’m sad about my dad and I wanted to forget… It’s because after seeing my dad pass, and facing this fight with Lendir, it’s starting to dawn on me just how short life is. I don’t want to waste any more of my time pretending I don’t want to be with you.”

  “Oh.” Amelia sat back, feeling dumb and disappointed. “I see.”

  “But you don’t want this,” he
said. “So we won’t.”

  “I mean, I didn’t say I didn’t want it…” She rested her arms on top of her knees and twiddled her thumbs.

  The Prince chuckled. “Well, now the mood’s ruined anyway.”

  She laughed and agreed. They were quiet for a while. Amelia was trying to force her body to move so that she could go back to her bedroom and sleep off the sexual desire that was coursing through her, but her legs wouldn’t budge.

  “Oh screw it.” Amelia turned to Eldan, grabbed his face with both her hands, and planted her lips on his. She kissed him like it might be the last time, which for all she knew, given the uncertainty that seems to always be plaguing the two of them, it could be. She ran her hands through his thick, long hair. Cupping one hand around the back of his neck, Amelia pulled herself onto his lap, straddling him. The Prince’s tongue was in her mouth, tasting her, drinking her up. She pushed away from him for just enough time to pull off her tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra— she had stopped wearing them after arriving in Meldania, where very few human women and no shifter women wore them.

  Eldan brought his mouth to her neck and started sucking and gently biting her skin. Amelia moaned as she felt his arousal through his pants, pressing against her. Using his impressive core strength, and bracing the weight of them both against the wall, Eldan stood up, carrying Amelia. He walked her over to the bed and threw her down, with a bit more dominance than Amelia had expected from him. She liked it.

  She sat on the edge of the bed where he stood and worked to get his belt and buttons undone. He did the rest of the work, pulling his pants off and tossing them on the floor. He was standing before her, muscles glistening, his member engorged. She reached out and first took him in her hand, then guided his penis into her mouth and worked him over. She was slow at first, letting the tension build, but once his breathing started to get labored, his pleasure was turning her own and she went faster.

  Just before it seemed like he was about to finish, he put a finger under her chin. She stopped and let him lift her gaze up to meet his. He smiled down at her and said in a kind but authoritative voice, “Lay back.”

  She did and he pulled her cotton stretch pants and panties off with one quick, eager motion. He was on top of her now, holding up his weight with his sweaty, athletic arms. His legs pressed against her sides, and his mouth was back to exploring hers again. One of his hands found its way between her legs and he rubbed her clitoris with two fingers, moving in small circles. Amelia had to break her mouth from his to let out a loud, breathy sigh of relief as her red-hot desire was finally being satiated. He rubbed for a while longer and then put his two fingers inside of her. Indications of her pleasure were dripping down her legs now.

  She reached down, wanting to take the role of dominance for the finale. She pushed his hand away from her and ran her own up and down his length. Gripping his confidently but not too hard, she brought him inside of her and they both let out simultaneous gasps of gratification. He moved in and out of her with a steady pace, breathing heavily right next to her ear. Again, holding his weight with only one of his arms, he used the other hand to cup one of her breasts and play with her erect nipple.

  His final thrust came with a blissful exhale, bringing them both to a climax. Still inside Amelia, Eldan kissed her once more, this time with less passion and more sweet, soft affection. He pulled himself out and crawled off of her, repositioning himself so that he was leaning against the headboard. She allowed herself one more moment of bliss, eyes closed, still coming back from the place where that amazing orgasm had taken her. Then Amelia crawled next to her Prince, who cradled her into the nook between his chest and arm, and there they fell asleep.

  9

  Brothers will be Brothers

  It was through Garcia that the initial challenge notice was brought to Eldan and Amelia the next morning. The Prince assistant appeared wary and nervous when he walked into the bedroom, after knocking almost so quietly Amelia thought she may have just been hearing things. On the off chance she wasn’t she had called out, “Come in.” Which had woken up the Prince. She had been up for nearly half an hour at this point and had already dressed and sat herself down at the desk. She stood up as Garcia entered the room. The Prince remained where he was, likely due to the fact that he was still completely naked, and greeted his assistant with a big, bright smile.

  “Good morning, Garcia,” he said. “How are you doing this fine day?”

  Garcia looked back and forth between the Prince and Amelia, putting together the details of the circumstances he had just walked into. He offered Amelia a small smile before turning his full attention to Eldan and explaining why he was there.

  “I’m afraid I am the bearer of bad news, sir,” he said. “Your brother Lendir has announced this morning, upon hearing of your father’s death, that he has officially challenged you to a throne duel, which is to occur the day after tomorrow. Unless you should so choose to counter with a different date or, of course, there is always the option to surrender without a fight.”

  “I will do neither,” said Eldan, not appearing to be too shocked by the announcement. “Please inform Lendir and the Council that I will be ready for the fight the day after tomorrow.”

  Garcia bowed. “Very well, sir. There is another thing, seeing as the political future of Meldania is, shall we say, up in the air at the moment. The Council had decided to postpone their next meeting, the one in which you were to present the case against your mother, until after the duel.”

  The Prince sighed softly. “I guess that was to be expected. Thank you for informing me, Garcia. Now, if you don’t mind popping downstairs and requesting that someone bring up a fresh pot of coffee for me and Amelia, that would be wonderful.”

  The assistant bowed a second time, but didn’t immediately leave. “Sir, at risk of being too forward, I feel I must reflect on your unexpectedly calm demeanor. Did you not hear what I have just told you?” He glanced at Amelia, his face puzzled. “I thought you would be more… reactionary.”

  “I’m sorry to disappoint,” said Eldan. “I don’t know what to tell you—only that I am not afraid. Lendir doesn’t scare me, and really, no longer does death. Besides, my brother’s greatest strength is getting inside his opponent’s head. Well that and cheating. Seeing as I cannot exactly control the latter, I figure I might as well do what I can to control the former.”

  “That is very wise of you, sir,” said Garcia. “I do hope the plan works in your favor. Officially, as an employee of the Meldanian monarchy as a whole, I am not supposed to take sides when it comes to throne duels, but I think it would be fair to say that, as someone who values their life, I would be much better off should you end up the victor.”

  He started to walk out the door, then stopped again. This time he addressed Amelia instead. “Excuse me for asking, but I was curious,” he began. “To know what you may have said to the security worker by the name of Leana? She packed up and left yesterday. She said she is going to try to make it all the way to District Seven.”

  Amelia winced, remembering how she had just a few days prior scared that poor woman half to death. “I may have panicked her a little over what the Queen planned to do. In my defense, I was in the middle of my own panic moment. It’s a good thing she’s left though, isn’t it? If Lendir does win, which,” She looked at the Prince. “Probably won’t happen.” Back to Garcia. “But if it does, she will be better off having left with enough time to hopefully get away.”

  “She will never make it to District Seven on foot,” said Garcia. “The trip might be worth it for someone running away from certain death, but the journey is incredibly dangerous and she will likely die on the way.”

  “Oh my god.” Amelia cupped her mouth and looked to Eldan for reassurance. “You can get her back, right? Can you send someone? In a car. They will be able to catch up with her.”

  “Of course,” said Eldan. “Garcia, send someone right away.”

  Garcia nodded. “I w
ill, sir, but it isn’t clear which direction she went in.”

  “Then send multiple cars,” said the Prince.

  “Will do.” The assistant excused himself for the final time and left.

  “I didn’t mean to cause that woman any trouble,” said Amelia, making her way to the foot of the bed and sitting down. “I thought I was helping.”

  “You were afraid. It makes sense that you tried to warn her.”

  Amelia bit her lip and thought about what it was exactly she had said to Leana.

  “She’s got the right idea though,” said Eldan. “Having some sort of back up plan would be smart. I know it’s not fun to think about the idea of me losing my brother, or losing to my mother even, but they are very real possibilities. We need to start figuring out what you are going to do if something goes wrong.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” Amelia admitted. “I was wondering about your connections in the District Eight Police Department. If push comes to shove, maybe you could ask them to help me sneak back in, seeing as my replacement ID tag is taking forever.” She gave him a look, as if to question the dedication of the team he hired to take care of that little problem.

  “About that,” said the Prince. “I’m pretty sure my mother has something to do with the delay. She has spies planted all over this city. I’m sure there is someone in my security team who has been sabotaging the whole thing.”

  “You don’t think they could have done something to my private phone line, do you? Could they be listening in?”

  The Prince’s eyes widened. “It’s possible,” he said. “I should have thought about that. Ame, I’m sorry. I should be more careful.”