by Layla Pierce
I have a feeling that if I approach him he will see it as pity and I don't want him to think that. I feel pity for what he's seen, but I don't pity him. I want him to be happy and satisfied. I try to tell myself that if he found someone to make him happy, I would be happy for him, but it's a lie. I want to satisfy him. I want to be the reason he is happy.
Same as I want with the others. Knowing what I know now, I'm afraid Cole would see anything I do as charity. He is by far not a charity case, but of all of my guards, he is the only one who has every reason to be cold and closed off and yet is the kindest and gentlest of the men.
He smiles at me and I offer him a genuine smile back. He looks at me like I am everything and I feel soothed by that. Our silent exchange of smiles isn't one heated by lust or power or need, it's soft because that is what Cole makes me feel. Soft and delicate.
CHAPTER SIX
Pain and Comfort
As the party winds down I find myself succumbing to fatigue. After my dalliance with Stephen, my night consists of wining and dining the noble men and women of my kingdom. Which is tedious under the best of circumstance and downright exhausting during a feast or party. I break away from my cousin Claudia, the duchess of my eastern kingdom and wife of Duke Harold. I head for Cole who has kept a close eye on me for the duration of the party.
"I'm ready for bed."
He bows his head and escorts me from the room. "Did you have a good night?"
"As good as can be expected. Everyone wanted to talk politics or money. Neither of which interest me tonight."
He laughs and I find that I like that sound. "What interests you, my queen?"
I look at him for a brief moment and smile. His cheeks flush which seems to give me a second wind of energy. We walk the rest of the way in silence, but I'm not uncomfortable in it. Cole has a calm about him that no one else in the castle seems to possess. Graham brings power. Stephen brings humor. Aiden brings bravado. All of those are appreciative traits but on nights like this the calm and peace that Cole brings to me is a welcomed feeling.
He opens my door and I enter. He is standing at the threshold, watching me and now it's my turn to blush. "Are you coming in?" I ask.
"Won't one of the others mind?"
I shake my head. "I think at this point everyone knows the score." He takes a step inside but pauses and I tilt my head to the side. "Unless you don't like to share?"
His voice shakes just a bit. "No, I don't mind."
I smile and crook my finger. Cole wastes no time from that moment on. The door is shut behind him and he's already stripping off his shirt. I bite my lip at the sight of his rippled muscles all coiled and ready for action. Fumbling with the strings on my corset I let out a series of curses, but they fall silent as Cole's strong hands grip my garnet and tear it open.
Everything in my mind goes blank. His mouth is on me. Tasting and licking my flesh. His hand is gripping my cheek as he explores my breasts with his tongue. I moan and he silences me by sliding his thumb into my mouth. Pressure builds at my core. I've needed release all night and now as I stand half naked in my room sucking and nipping at his thumb I want all of him for endless hours. I need him to calm the fire inside me.
Before I can demand anything of him he has me naked and spread out on the bed. The way he looks at me makes me melt. He hesitates at his belt and I sit up on my elbows, eyeing the bulge in his pants greedily. "Do you want help?"
I accentuate my question by licking my lips once more, but he shakes his head. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
I know what he's hesitating about now and come up on my knees to crawl to the edge of the bed. Kissing his chest, I make my way lower and then unbuckle the belt. He sucks in a sharp breath as I lower his pants down his hips and dip my head down. He stops me. I look up at him. "I want you, Cole. All of you. I don't see you as anything less than what you are. A gorgeous, strong man who is all mine."
He smiles and as his pants slide from my hand he tosses me back on the bed and crawls over me. "Then if you don't mind, I'm going to fuck you first. You can suck my dick later, Sophie."
I practically purr at the demand and nod my head. I'm already wet and ready for him and I know, beyond anything, he is ready for me. The thick head of his cock presses against my sex and I wiggle to coat him in my arousal. His eyes widen and I remember that in this, my guard is new. No wonder he didn't want a blowjob, he's had that. What he hasn't had was a woman beneath him, taking him inside of her.
My legs fall open wider and he presses into me. Delicious heat fills me and my body is ready to explode after only a few thrusts. The size of him is near agonizing, but when he fills me I come unglued as his pelvic bone presses against my clit. He gives me small shallow thrusts that just keep enough pressure against my swollen nub to send the nerves clusters into overdrive. I tilt my hips to bring my legs up, letting my heels dig into his hips, driving him deeper.
His heavy balls slap against my ass as he quickens his pace. He pulls out and slams back into me with increasing intensity and I love every second of it. My nails score his back, marking him as mine and as my orgasm builds to its peak I hear a noise at the secret entrance into my room. My eyes widen as Graham watches us.
He's dressed, but only slightly. His pants are undone and he's stroking himself in time with Cole's thrusts and I shatter at the sight. My back arches and I cry out. Tonight I'm holding nothing back. Cole grunts and I feel his cock stiffen inside of me right before a hot burst spread over me. He's still pumping his hips as his cum fills me.
I think I am sated for about a half of a second until Graham steps out of the shadows. "I think you need to clean him up, Sophie." My eyes grow hooded with desire again as I look over at Cole who's collapsed next to me. He panting and looks exhausted but his cock is still hard and throbbing.
I crawl between his legs with my ass in the air knowing full well that Graham is now standing behind me. Wrapping my hand around the base of Cole's cock I dip my head down and take him into my mouth. He jerks and tangles one hand in my hair making me moan with pleasure.
I wiggle my hips. Everything aches for more and I need to be filled. The bed dips behind me and I practically snarl like a feral animal when Graham slides his cock into my aching sex. My jaw tightens and I scrape my teeth along the length of Cole's cock. The man beneath me makes a grunting sound and holds my head still as his hips jut upward to fuck my mouth. He matches Graham's pace. Both of them claim me. Both of them fill me and I am blinded by ecstasy. I bob my head and thrust my hips back to encourage them both to take more of me.
Graham's hand works my clit and coats his fingers in my cream. Cole's thrusting pushes his cock down my throat making me nearly gag until I find a way to relax my throat and take as much of him in as possible. I slide my hand down his leg until it reaches the metal and wooden appendage and for once he doesn't seem to care about me seeing or touch him. I stroke him from flesh to metal to wood and every time he gives me a satisfied grunt. Finally he groans. "Oh god, Sophie. I'm going to come. Just keep going, just like that."
My walls quiver and I want to come with him. I want Graham to come. I clench my sex around his cock and my captain gives a little laugh. "You want me to come, love?"
I nod my head vigorously causing Cole to shove his cock halfway down my throat. I moan to vibrate his length and then my body crashes over the cliffs of pleasure. Grahams slick thumb rubs small circles over my puckered entrance as he takes me from behind. My walls are stretched from his thick cock and now he applies just enough pressure about my other entry that every nerve in my body shoots energy through me from head to toe.
My sex clamps down on him just as Cole shoots thick creamy ribbons of cum down my throat.
"God yes," rips from Graham's lips as I feel his release inside of me as well, but I can't focus on any of it as wave after wave of mind-numbing tremors wrack my body. As the pleasure starts to subside I find I no longer have the energy to stay upright and I collapse with my head in Cole's lap
.
Graham pulls out of my aching core and pulls me up on the bed sandwiching me between him and Cole. Both of them kiss me. Cole takes my mouth with his, thrusting his tongue past my lips and then Graham turns my head, breaking the kiss to claim my lips with his. I am sated for the first time in many years. If I'm honest, I've never felt this complete and fulfilled by anything in my life. I love every moment of being shared by the two men in my bed. I loved every moment of having my head in Stephen's lap and of having Aiden playing with my breasts as he kissed my neck. I've desperately needed this and now I have it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Birthday Betrayal
My body aches in the most delicious way after last night and I am kept warm by the two naked bodies beside me. I am snuggled into Graham, my back against his chest and Cole in front of me. His arm drapes around my waist and my legs tangle with his. I feel him stiffen when I absently caress of the wooden parts of his prosthesis with my foot. I might not like the reaction but I understand it. Leaning forward still half asleep I kiss him softly and press closer to him. "Don't shy away from me, please."
"As you wish, my queen." I feel his lips turn into a smile. "And happy birthday."
No part of me is surprised he remembered, the entire kingdom remembers. I don't want to wake up. I don't want our time together to end, but today of all days is not one that I can miss.
My birthday is full of celebrations, people will be lining up already with gifts. The staff will be busy preparing enough food to feed the entire royal court along with cakes and pastries to be delivered to every village. Moira has yet to come wake me up which means she is either busy making preparations or she is kind enough to give me some extra time.
She knows it was Leo who took her children, and that I am playing along with my husband's demands as best as I can so that her children will stay safe. Still knowing they are safe and having them home are two entirely different things, and my maid has managed to stay strong through all of this.
When my door bursts open I expect it to be her but instead it is Stephen who rushes inside and closes the door. "Sophie, get dressed. We must go."
Graham sits up and glares. "What is it?"
"It's the king." He bows to me. "M'lady you have to come now to see what I've discovered."
All three of us quickly dress and follow him to one of the many hidden passageways. He leads us through the winding maze and I'm amazed my guards know their ways around the castle this way. I would be lost if left on my own in here. When we finally stop we are in a small room I've never seen before. Stephen points to a peephole in the wall. "Look."
I hesitate for a moment when I hear the familiar grunt of someone having sex. "Stephen I don't want to see my husband having sex." I wince and turn away. I may not love him, and I know that he doesn't love me but it still not a sight I wish to see. I start to move away, wanting to escape this hidden room, but Graham holds me still. I look up at him with pleading eyes, he finally nods. "Okay." Looking at Stephen, he whispers, "We have to get her out of here. You can just fill us in later on what you found."
He shakes his head. "Just look."
I do and feel a wave a wave of nausea. My husband and my cousin's husband the Duke are both taking turns with Richard, the stable master. I pull back but Stephen nudges me. "Look again, to the right on the table."
I take a deep breath and look again. Trying to not focus on the three men currently licking and sucking each other. It's hard but I manage and find what Stephen wants me to see. "The proclamation?"
He nods. I stand back and look at him waiting for an explanation. My kingdom's proclamation is supposed to be housed in my families tome, but it's laying out on a table. Stephen leans in. "It's a forgery. They've changed the wording to make it so that if Sophie dies the kingdom reverts back to the old ways of things and the king will assume full power. Anyone who inherits the throne after him will have to be a direct descendant of Leo's bloodline, not Sophie's."
I shake my head. "They can't do that."
Stephen gives me a sorrowful look. "I'm sorry, my queen, but it looks like they've managed to change the wording ever so slightly so that it will look as if everyone just misread it and whoever the forger is, they are topnotch, you can't tell it's a fake."
I fold my arms over my chest and feel a slight bit of comfort when Graham and Cole move closer to me. "But why go through this whole thing with Damien trying to get me to produce an heir?"
"To keep you distracted from what was really going on."
The answer resonates deep in my soul and I know it's true. Leo hadn't pressed me about whether I'd slept with Damien and chances were he'd never intend for me to go through with it. It wouldn't matter if I were dead. The realization settles in and I peek through the hole once more. All three men were finished now and deep in conversation.
Leo laughs and shakes his head at whatever had just been said. "No, she's too much of a prude to bed my guy. She clings to this notion that our marriage is valid and she intends to honor it."
"But what of her guards, you've mentioned she's gotten closer to them. Remember what your spy told you. What if she's pregnant? You'll have an heir then, one of her blood to take the throne."
"Only one of my blood will take the throne. I will not raise a mutt as my heir. When I rule, I will appoint my heir, someone of my blood to take the throne when I am done."
I can't help but quietly laugh at the thought. Leo won't be getting a blood heir anytime soon with his aversion to the female form. A little prickle of joy fills me for a moment, I refuse to give any of this mess too much of my attention.
The door opens and a woman enters, I step back and feel the comfort of Cole next to me. "M'lord." A woman coos in an adoring tone. I wrench myself out of the grip of my guards and peer out of my hole to see what's happening. The woman is one of my maids. She's young and from time to time I've seen her lingering eyes fall on my husband. Just the thought makes me smile. The simple girl doesn't even realize that females do not grab Leo's eyes. He prefers his conquests to be tall, dark, and handsome. Or in the case of the Duke, tall, pudgy, and only slightly attractive.
During our very first meeting, Leo made his disdain for the female sex quiet clear. I covet the smile on my lips as my own personal little victory over the girl who is approaching my husband as if this is something she's seen before. My smile tightens as it dawns on me that she is grinning and eyeing all three men greedily. Someone lays a hand on my shoulder trying to distract me but I shrug them off. The girl moves closer, slowly slipping her arms out of her maid's frock. Her pert breasts free to the world.
To my horror Leo licks his lips and strokes his cock watching her as she bounces her way into his lap, mounting him without hesitation. My hands shake. That lying, cheating bastard. I'd excused his behavior for so long assuming that my husband was trapped marrying a woman when he could only a love a man, could only find joy in touching a man and now I see him fucking one of my servants. Leo lays back, gripping her tits in his hands as the Duke now stands fully nude and rubbing himself. "What the--"
A hand slaps over my mouth and I'm forced to watch the scene play out in silence with tears streaming down my cheeks. The girl finally cries out and Leo's body goes ridged the Duke explodes, coating the girls back and Leo's still pulsing balls with his seed. I feel the rise of bile in my throat that has been plaguing me for this entire hellish endeavor finally break free and jerk my head to the side, ripping away who's ever hand has been silencing me, and I heave as quietly as possible. Leo's betrayed me at the most base level. He's robbed me of years of my life convincing me I was not worthy of being with anyone while he was fucking everything with a pulse in my kingdom.
I can feel the tension in the air. I look over at my guards, all three of them wear a pained look and can't stand the pity in their eyes. Clenching my fists, I stand back up and look through the hole. All of the men are showering my maid with attention as if each has the urge to possess her. Leo grins. "See, I shall have my o
wn heir."
The Duke clears his throat and reaches for the proclamation. "Then we move forward with the plan. Our man on the inside will replace the original proclamation with our forgery. And then we move on to the next step."
The maid in Leo's arms smiles. "Who's going to do it?"
Richard, the stable master, leans over to kiss Leo softly. "Don't worry about the details, Trisha. Your job is only to produce a child."
She glares at him but stays silent as Leo chuckles. "It doesn't matter who does it. If the opportunity arises one of you may take your shot."
The Duke seems to ponder something and asks again. "And what of her guards?
Leo smiles. "One of our men will take care of them. She's far too trusting and doesn't realize how many eyes I have on her."
The nobleman shuffles to get dressed and I see a slight shake in his hands. "And if she's pregnant?"
I hold my breath, my brain won't click, I can't understand what is happening and then my blood runs cold. Leo's expression hard and his eyes suddenly remind of a snake. "Sophia dies, one way or another. With child or without, it doesn't matter. By the summer solstice, this kingdom will have a new ruler and a new code. My wife will be dead and her bloodline dies with her."
I stumble back until I bump into a solid object. Strong arms brace me and I know one of my guards is holding me but I can't focus on them. All I can hear is Leo's words. "He means to kill me?" I finally whisper.
