One True Love

by Linda Kage

  Soren’s expression immediately darkened. “What the hell are you doing near my wife?”

  “Oh, tha-that was my doing,” Nicolette explained, already stumbling over her words. Her eyes widened with worry. “I invited Urban to walk in the garden with me, you see, and—”

  “And Anniston and I wandered across them on our own stroll,” Vienne added easily, smiling at her husband and then the queen and king. “So we decided to walk together. Now, all seven of us can enjoy this fine weather in a bigger group. Wouldn’t that be delightful?”

  “Yes,” Yasmin agreed in a saccharine sweet voice, even though her gaze turned to vinegar when it slid my way. “Delightful.”

  Oh yeah, the queen was still pissed that I’d rejected her.

  Too bad.

  Put out that I was still standing too close to his wife, Soren narrowed his eyes at me and reached out to tug Vienne to his side.

  She stumbled a bit, not expecting the move, and it took everything in me not to leap forward to steady her…and then punch the dick in the face for daring to put his hand on her elbow…and keep it there.

  I couldn’t seem to stop staring at his fingers. I wanted to break every bone in his hand.

  Why was he still touching her?

  As if sensing my rising fury, Vienne forced a huge smile and started to walk, as if attempting to break contact with him, even though she failed, and causing everyone in the group to walk as well. “Why, it’s such a nice day, I wouldn’t be surprised if we meandered across Brentley and Allera as well.”

  He was still touching her. In fact, I think he’d decided to keep his hand on her elbow as if he were actually escorting her.

  The fucking prick.

  Meanwhile, Yasmin laughed at Vienne’s suggestion. “I doubt we’ll see much of those honeymooners. They barely make it down to dinner each night with their clothes on straight, as it is. They certainly won’t leave the bedchamber on a holiday like this.” Her evil grin slid my way. “I had no idea your sister held such a healthy appetite for pleasures of the flesh, Prince Urban.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her, but Nicolette was the one who spoke up. “I believe this is the very kind of conversation you’re always telling me a lady shouldn’t start in polite company, Your Majesty.”

  My eyes widened at her defense of me, as did most everyone else’s in the party. Yasmin whirled to send her an incredulous glance, and I knew she would’ve attacked—possibly even with claws—if Caulder hadn’t thrown back his head and hooted.

  “She got you there, dear wife,” he told Yasmin as he pulled her close and kissed her hair, still chuckling. “She got you there.”

  “Hmm.” The queen pulled herself up taut and continued to glare at Nicolette. “So she did.”

  She kept moodily quiet the rest of the trip, while Nicolette, Caulder, and Vienne passed the baby between the three of them, and Soren tried to convince Caulder to raise the tariff on clear rock, but failed.

  The day passed in much the same vein, with me forced to remain in the company of these people, listening to Yasmin’s backward compliments and narcissistic musings while watching Soren pay more attention to Vienne than he’d ever done before, in between my own fumbling attempts to unsuccessfully cheer Nicolette whenever the queen hurt her feelings and Caulder moodily grunting through it all.

  We attended the parade in the village together, sitting on a royal dais to get the best view, where Brentley and Allera finally showed up just in time for it to start, looking rumpled but refreshed.

  “Hello, dear brother,” my sister greeted me brightly as she fell with a laugh into the chair next to mine and immediately started clapping for the first exhibit of a cloth dragon being carried on stilts by a group of children that passed by us. “It seems as if I rarely see you anymore. How have you been?”

  “The collar of your dress is crooked and your hair is askew,” I muttered, not even glancing her way.

  When she looked down to see that I was right, she quickly rearranged herself and then patted her hair back into place, still smiling as if actually proud of how much disarray she was in.

  I finally sent her a dry glance. “Apparently, I’m not doing as well as you are.”

  “Hmph,” she said, lifting her chin. “You’re just jealous you’re not getting any, and I am.”

  She was right. Dammit. I glanced discreetly toward Vienne, where Soren was sitting next to her and actually leaning in to speak to her. When she nodded politely at whatever he’d said, my gut tightened into knots.

  The rest of the day was a blur full of strangers’ faces, villagers introducing themselves to me, my soldiers teasing me over how dressed up I was, and Vienne always at Soren’s side. It was a miserable, tedious affair.

  I was ready to go straight to my bed after the huge dinner that evening, but Nicolette begged me to stay and watch the light show with her. So, I did, and I’m glad I did. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.

  “How…?” was all I could ask as I gaped in awe at the night while explosion after explosion lit up the sky with a multitude of colors.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Nicolette murmured from next to me.

  My lips parted as my gaze remained fixated. “Yeah. It is.”

  I’m not sure how long I stood there, staring, entranced, but the princess left my side at some point, and I found myself enjoying the sights alone until I felt stirrings from my mark, telling me Vienne was approaching.

  I turned just as she tripped and tumbled headlong into my chest.

  “Watch out,” I cautioned softly, catching her close until her face mashed against my tunic. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just clumsy. Sorry, I…” I kept hold of her arms until she straightened and looked up into my eyes. “I just wanted a closer look because it was so beautiful.”

  I frowned, confused. “What’s beautiful?”

  She couldn’t be talking about the light show, since she was looking nowhere near the sky. She was too busy staring at me.

  “The way the colors reflect off your face,” she murmured, lifting her hand so she could gently touch my cheek.

  Though she only grazed my features, I swore I felt her fingers everywhere. The sensation covered every inch of my body until I was hard and aching, ready to take her right there.

  “So beautiful,” she murmured, stroking my face.

  “Vienne,” I started in a hoarse voice, glancing around to make sure no one else could see what she was doing to me in the dark. Gently taking her wrists in my grasp, I urged her hands away from me. “Darling, what’re you—”

  “What do you think we’ll dream about tonight?” she asked in wonder, still staring into my eyes. Then she giggled and shifted closer. “I hope I fall asleep first, because I know what I want to dream about.”

  My mouth fell open, and my eyes grew wide until she hiccupped and giggled again. Then I realized— “Holy shit, you’re smashed. How much have you had to drink?”

  Laughing, she shook her head and covered her mouth. “A lot.”

  I took her shoulders and glanced around, needing to get her somewhere safe and out of the public eye, but then Allera and Brentley showed up surrounding us and basically protecting us from view of everyone else.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Allera hissed as she jerked me away from my one true love. “It might be dark out, but honestly, anyone could’ve glanced over and seen you two. Brentley and I certainly did.”

  “Be careful,” I hissed when Vienne wavered as soon as Allera pulled me away from her. “She’s had too much to drink. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

  “I know exactly what I’m doing,” Vienne announced on a petulant frown. “I was touching all the pretty lights on your face.”

  “My God,” Brentley uttered, shaking his head as he gaped at her. “I’ve never seen her so drunk before.”

  “We’ll get her back to her room,” Allera told me as she gently hooked her arm through Vienne’s. “Yo
u should go mingle and make sure you’re seen by people, especially her husband.”

  I opened my mouth to refute that idea, but Brentley patted my arm. “You know it’s for the best, mate.”

  When I nodded, Vienne cried, “No. I want to stay with Urban.”

  She reached for me, but Allera pulled her back. “Come along, dear. Let’s go check on Anniston, shall we?”

  The mother was easily deterred. “Okay. Good idea. She was sleeping last time I checked. A maid is staying with her, but with dark magic in the castle, you can never be too safe, though the dark magic certainly hasn’t done anything to hurt anyone yet. Do you think the priestess who touched Nicolette was wrong? Maybe there’s no dark magic around at all.”

  “Priestesses are never wrong,” Allera told her as she led Vienne away.

  I watched Brentley and Allera steer her off until they disappeared in the crowd. Then I sighed and wandered around, looking for Vienne’s dick of a husband, but I never found him. When I came across the king, I nodded a greeting, talked to him for a few minutes and called that good enough before I decided to retire for the night.

  Once I was alone in the hallway on my floor of the castle, I finally let my grin grow. Vienne had sought me out. She’d touched me and called me beautiful. This was going to end up as a good day, indeed.

  But then I opened the door to my room, and a wave of heat rippled across my skin. My mark tingled a moment before lust coiled through me, growing stronger and stronger until I had to reach for the back of a chair to steady myself.

  What the hell...?

  I realized what was happening a moment before the orgasm hit.

  With a groan, I bowed my head and gnashed my teeth as wave after wave of pleasure poured over me, flooding my veins. I didn’t ejaculate, though, because it wasn’t my orgasm. I suppose I easily could’ve reached down and relieved myself. It would’ve been a long, hard release if I had. But I couldn’t. Not while I knew all this had originated from my one true love, who was currently letting another man inside her.

  Growling deep in my throat, I tried to fight off the sensations still rolling through me. I hated knowing she was having sex right now. Hated feeling it. And for the briefest moment, I hated her for enjoying it... Because, oh yes, I could feel her joy coming through the mark loud and clear. Her orgasm had been that strong.

  Acid settled in my stomach. I wanted to vomit.

  Why?

  Why had I been forced to experience that with her? Wasn’t it torture enough knowing she was married to someone else, to understand they would lay together eventually? Why did I have to feel it with them? To know when it was happening?

  To say the least, I didn’t sleep that night. At all.

  Chapter 30

  Vienne

  I woke to an angry baby and pounding headache.

  “Sorry, my lady,” a maid was telling me, her voice high and distressed as she jiggled a wailing Anniston in her arms. “I tried to keep her happy and quiet to let you sleep off all the festivities from last night, but I fear she won’t be calmed until she has her mother.”

  Nodding, I sat up and held out my arms so the girl could hand me my child. But, wow, I must’ve slept hard. I hadn’t heard Anniston wake or the maid enter my room to help with her.

  When she instantly calmed at the sound of my crooning voice, it warmed something inside me that made me forget all about how much I’d drunk the night before.

  Anniston had a way of making everything better. I smiled at her as she fed, tracing her cheek with a single finger and sighing. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you know that, little girl? The very best.”

  She opened her eyes when I spoke, meeting my affectionate gaze with her own content expression. And though being with her brought me all the peace and love in the world, my mind strayed to another.

  Urban.

  He’d felt all these things for me that I felt for Anniston without even knowing me first, without learning if I deserved it. It made me wonder if maybe that was what one true love really was: the selfless giving of your heart to another without reason, thought, consequence or gain. I had loved Anniston before I ever looked into her eyes, before I could ascertain if she deserved it first, and I knew I would still love her no matter what kind of woman she grew up to be. Just as Urban did for me.

  That was a profound realization. He loved me as I loved my baby. It made me wonder why I had been so afraid to admit I even liked him in return. Why had I been determined to guard my heart where he was concerned? He’d already proven he was worth it, and I liked being in his company; I liked him. He was a good, honorable man who made me hope, and want, and yearn. Why fight that?

  Because it might hurt? Because it would be hard to deal with? Well, that was stupid, because this entire situation was already difficult, and I already hurt. Besides, I could still love him even if we never became husband and wife. Marriage hadn’t made me fall in love with Soren, and it couldn’t seem to keep me out of love with Urban.

  I’d always told myself I would love whomever I saw fit, because that was the one thing I could control in my life. My heart was mine. Yet I’d been purposely denying it any feelings for the man I wanted to love because of the obstacles surrounding us.

  Well, no more. The heart was meant to love. So I would let it.

  And I should stop thinking of myself as disloyal or unfaithful for merely loving another. Love had never been part of my marriage, so how could I betray Soren by giving my heart to another when he never had it? I could enjoy Urban from across a room without ever touching him.

  I could.

  Finding great peace and resolve from that decision, I asked the maid for some tea and the last few grumpackers I had in my gift baskets from Allera—or now that I thought about it, they’d probably come from Urban all along, hadn’t they?

  I took my time eating them, savoring each bite. And I swear, they were the sweetest grumpackers I’d ever eaten. Because they’d come from him. With love.

  As soon as Anniston finished her meal and we were both dressed, I was eager to get out of my room. With my new resolution to let my heart open for him, I felt good. I started up toward the East Salon for sunlight, cheer, and hopefully a good view of the training soldiers below, only for a harried servant to intercept me.

  “My lady, the king wishes to see you in the Throne Room at once.”

  Shocked by such a summons and instantly worried, I hurried down with Anniston still in my arms. When the guards at the entrance saw me approaching, they waved me inside immediately, making my heart leap with fear. Was everyone okay? Had the bearer of dark magic finally struck?

  “Vienne!” Caulder cried in relief as soon as I crossed the threshold. “Thank God. Just the person I need.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked, glancing around for a sign of what had happened. But only the king and his guards, dignitaries, and servants were present.

  “It’s that man of yours,” he started, sighing with aggravation and running a hand through his tousled hair. “He needs to be controlled.”

  I blinked and frowned. “Soren?”

  He huffed and rolled his eyes. “No. The other one. The one bonded to you through that ridiculous mark.” When I continued to squint at him in confusion, he threw up his hands. “Urban! I’m speaking of Prince Urban.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly, trying not to show how much more worried I grew, knowing the issue was with Urban, not Soren. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s come unhinged, that’s what’s wrong,” the king blustered, waving out a hand. “I guess he’s woken in a foul mood, or with a sour stomach, or something, because reports keep coming in from soldier after soldier that he’s on a violent warpath. He’s already hurt four men on the training field this morning, breaking two arms, slicing one too deeply with his sword, and flat-out knocking the fourth unconscious. Then, after I had him dismissed from training for the day, I got a report that he’d made a maid cry when he threw a pitcher
of ale across a room, shattering it. I can’t keep getting interrupted with this nonsense just because the man’s in a temper. Something must be done before he actually kills someone.”

  I blinked, my mind spinning with ways to sneak to Urban without anyone finding out and discovering what was wrong with him, when I noticed the king was sending me an expectant look.

  “Well?” he demanded.

  I jumped and squeaked, “Wait, you want me to attend to this issue?”

  Oh, thank God.

  The king narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t call anyone else in here about the matter, now did I?”

  “No, but… But I thought you didn’t want me near him. You’ve threatened his life and my time with my own daughter to ensure such a thing.”

  “Well, I’m setting that decree aside until you’ve settled this matter.”

  Relief bloomed inside me even as I asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  Caulder flailed his hands in frustration. “Reason with him. Talk to him. I don’t know! I don’t care. I just know his temper is out of control, and you’re supposed to be his one true love, so you should be able to calm him down if anyone could.”

  “So, I can—”

  “I have spoken, Vienne. Now go save all of us from his wrath. Instantly!”

  Well, who could ignore an order like that from a king?

  “You there.” He jabbed his finger toward a nearby maid. “Have someone take care of Lady Vienne’s child for her until she’s accomplished her duties.”

  Since I couldn’t rightly argue with Caulder, I helplessly handed Anniston over, and asked, “Does anyone know where the prince even is?”

  “I do, my lady.” A guard at the door stepped forward. When I met his gaze, I noticed the man had a fresh black eye. I winced, hoping that hadn’t come to him courtesy of Urban.

  “Good then.” Caulder waved his hand, dismissing us. “Follow him, and get this settled as soon as possible, if you please.”

  I followed the guard into the hall.

  “He was prowling around the Blue Chambers last I saw him,” the guard informed me discreetly.