by Chloe Joel
"I have to cut my palm?" She whispered, she hated sharp objects.
"Yes, is that a problem?" He asked her looking down at her, confused.
"Will it hurt?" Helena paled, thinking of the blood and pain.
Aris shook her his head, "More like a quick sting. It's over pretty fast, you just need a drop of blood and then it's over. You'll be fine, I promise."
"But, what if I faint?" Helena admitted, "I normally get woozy at the sight of blood, and I don't know if I can cut myself."
"You don't have to cut yourself. My Father will cut both of our palms before tying our hands together with a small, silver chain as part of the ceremony. We are talking like a tiny pin prick, not a gigantic slash." He tried to reassure her, but when she didn't look any better, he decided to distract her instead.
He leaned down and kissed her, plunging his tongue in her mouth, deciding to make up for cumming too fast, he put his hands between her legs and stroked her clit and lips until she was grinding herself against him, moaning into his mouth.
"Cum for me Helena, I want to watch you." He whispered after pulling his head back to look down at his hand touching her pink skin and the sensitive nub that was all purple and swollen from his playing with it. Aris encouraged her with his fingers and hands, touching her until she was panting and close to the edge of her own release.
Helena gasped as her hips started grinding up against his hand and a moan tore from her throat as his fingers and touch pushed her over the edge to her explosive release on the bed.
"Good girl Helena, cum for me, that's it," He whispered to her as her juices filled his hands and she shook against him. He leaned down and pressed a passionate kiss to her lips, swallowing the little mews that she was making as her body quivered from her orgasm. Her legs were shaking and she had stars behind her eyes that were so intense it was like fireworks.
Eventually, Helena was able to catch her breath and look at him with heavy lids.
"I really, really missed you," She whispered and then grabbed his cock with her hand again, "And missed this."
"We have all night to make up for it." Aris told her, grinning at her and fell on top of her to prove his point.
Chapter 12
Helena was nervous, she didn't know how she was going to handle the ceremony. They were busy putting her dress on her now, and doing her hair. Cindy was dressed in formal wear, but wouldn't be at the altar with her and Aris.
"Are you ready for this?" Cindy asked her gently, seeing the anxiety written on her friends face.
"I'm trying to be okay with this. I miss my family, a wedding should be celebrated, and my family probably misses me and thinks I'm dead," Helena said and then started to cry.
"Stop that, you'll smear the makeup. Here," Cindy said as she pulled a tissue off the table they'd been using to set the hair and makeup items, and dabbed at the tears on her face.
"Thank you, I know I can't take it back, I know life is what it is, and I know I should appreciate I ended up where I am, about to be married to a man like Aris. I never would have found a boy in college like him, I'm not even sure I'd have found a human like him, but I still miss my family. I'm glad you're here Cindy, you make this more bearable because you understand what I'm going through." Helena hugged her friend quickly before a knock on the door interrupted them and another slave finished pinning her hair up and attached the veil.
Even in the far reaches of the galaxy, wedding dresses, veils, makeup and pinchy shoes seemed to be the norm for fancy occasions. Helena almost wished she could have gone barefoot, but she didn't want to do anything to offend their formal traditions. Aris deserved that from her.
"Are you ready?" A small Asian looking slave that was new to the castle spoke up in the doorway, she bowed her head quietly, not making eye contact with Helena. Helena wondered why she avoided her, but didn't bother to ask because the girl acted uncomfortable anytime she got to near her. The only sign that she wasn't human was the color of her eyes and the purple tint of her hair.
"I'm ready," Helena said, taking a deep breath and following her to the hall where all the people were waiting for her and Aris to get married.
Helena wasn't sure she was ready, part of her wanted to run screaming in the other direction, even though in her heart, she knew that she was in love with Aris, she couldn't help it, despite his strong, alpha ways and his wanting to pretend like he couldn't love her, she could tell.
The way he looked at her, the gentle touches when he thought she was sleeping and would tuck her hair behind her ears. That he always made sure she had enough blankets at night so she wouldn't get cold. A selfish, inconsiderate man didn't notice the little details like that, and a man who didn't care about a woman wouldn't bother to do it.
She knew she wanted to marry him, she wanted to support him, to make him feel loved and cherished. It was her fear of blood and knives was what had her wanting to run screaming in the other direction to avoid that part of the ceremony. They'd prepared her, warned her, and Aris had done his best to comfort her, but her irrational fear of the pain made her heart swell and feel like it was going to stop beating because it was pounding so hard.
She followed the girl to the men who were waiting outside in the hallway with the chair and platform she was supposed to sit on, she felt self conscious as she climbed up, hating attention. Back on Earth, as a blogger, she'd been all but invisible to most people, no one ever saw her, and it made her able to get enough juice for her gossip columns for the campus paper and the blog she had kept.
Now, none of it mattered. Here, people noticed her, she stood out, she was exotic to them, beautiful, desirable, and Aris's. Royalty, she couldn't believe it. Most young girls dream of being a princess when they grow up, but it hadn't ever occurred to her to want that for herself. Cindy had whined more than once to her it was unfair that she got chosen just because she had bigger boobs to be the princess.
Helena had reassured Cindy she was beautiful, and that whatever bond she and Aris had, it was because of chemistry, not just because her boobs bounced up into her face more when she ran across a room. It had succeeded in making Cindy laugh, but in the back of her head, she had to work through her fears that Aris's attraction to her was just physical and there was no emotional involvement.
Over time, he'd proven that not to be true, but if you flat out asked him, he denied feeling love.
Helena almost started to hyperventilate when they picked up the platform she was on and carried her through the large ornate doors. People turned to stare at her, and she tried to pretend they were all in chicken suits or naked, but it didn't really help her anxiety. She was breathing so fast by the time they got her to Aris, she was light headed and dizzy.
He helped her off the chair to stand in front of his father, who had on robes and fancy jewelry around his neck and on every finger, with a gold crown on his head.
"Are you okay?" Aris whispered to her and took her hand, trying to calm her down.
Helena nodded and held his hand, her fingers squeezing his tight enough he flinched and gave her a funny look. They turned to face his father, who started speaking about the obligations of each person in the relationship, the obligation of Aris as future King, and the obligation the couple would have to their people once they were in charge.
Aris noticed his father seemed to be shaking and pale, and he was holding back his cough. His lips turned a dusky blue the longer he stood there and Aris had the urge to stop the ceremony, but knew his father would never forgive him if he did.
Helena and Aris exchanged glances and he nodded his head slightly at his dad as his father looked over at them and talked about the responsibility of the royal couple to the people behind them. The wedding and ceremony was almost more for the people than for the couple who were getting married.
His father finally picked up the pledging knife and held it high above his head to show it off. The gold handle and jewels in the blade showed that it was clearly a decorative ornament and not a well-
used weapon.
"Aris Croell, do you pledge to serve your people well, take care of your woman and raise your children with the honor codes of our family?" His father asked him, his lips turning a dark purple and the lids of his eyes starting to pale.
"Yes, I pledge myself," Aris said and held out his hand and didn't flinch when his father dragged the blade across the palm of his hand.
"Helena the slave, do you pledge your life to honor and serve Aris, be a good wife and support your husband the way he needs you to, raise his children and learn to honor the codes and traditions of our family?" Hydan asked Helena and held the knife waiting for her to accept.
For a split second, the knife glinting in the life, with thin line of blood smeared on it caused her to feel lightheaded and dizzy and she almost wanted to faint, but she took a deep breath and forced herself to focus.
"I do, I mean, I pledge myself," Helena said, correcting what she was supposed to say, and blushed slightly realizing she almost screwed up a simple sentence.
She held out her hand and squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe and could feel her heart pounding, the blood rushed to her ears and she heard the thump, thump, echo as she panicked and forced herself to hold still.
"Helena," Aris whispered and nudged her. "Uncurl your fingers."
Helena opened her eyes and saw that her hand was claw shaped and flattened her hand out and looked into his eyes as the knife sliced her palm. She flinched, feeling the stinging pain, but it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. The knife was razor sharp and sliced through her skin like a hot knife through butter.
Aris took her hand in his, threading his fingers through hers and pressing the palms together. His father grabbed the silver link chain and wrapped it around their wrists.
"The steel represents his strength," Hydan announced and then grabbed a ribbon and put it around their wrists too. "The silk ribbon represents her support and the beauty she can bring to his life if he can slow down enough to notice."
Aris let out a small chuckle and Helena blinked up at him, surprised that he was amused.
"And finally, string, to tie them both together, for life, for love for the family they'll hopefully raise together. May they have many, many years of peace and joy together that this binding will bring upon them." Hydan stood back from the couple after lifting their arms to show the binding of their union to the crowd.
Aris leaned down and kissed Helena and held her close, only pulling away when his father collapsed on the ground, he started coughing and choking out blood. It pooled out of his mouth onto the altar and then made a death rattle as he gasped for air and then went silent.
Everyone was silent in shock as their King died in front of them at what should have been an excited moment in their history and life.
Aris struggled with the items wrapped around his wrists and tried to tear them off to reach his father. By the time he got them off, people were standing and the guards were ushering people out of the room, keeping them away from the fallen King.
"Hydan!" Aris said, reaching his dad, saying his name, trying to get a response. He leaned over him and put his ear by his mouth to see if he was breathing. When he didn't hear any breath sounds he rolled him flat on his back off his side, and started hitting his chest in an odd sort of CPR, Helena felt helpless watching. She saw the grief all over his face and knew that the man was gone. The rigidness and curl of his finger gave it away.
She didn't know what to do, the King's healers rushed forward and tried to pull Aris away, but he wouldn't leave his father's side. Instead he cradled him in his arms as he cried. It was the first sign of real, true emotion she'd seen from him and the grief and agony written on his face made her want to comfort him.
When they finally managed to pull him away from his dad and remove the body, Helena walked over to him quietly, not saying a word and opened her arms and hugged him tightly, not saying anything. Just being there for him. Aris hugged her back, almost painfully tight and his body shook even though his eyes were finally dry.
"I'm sorry for the display," He whispered into her hair, he pressed his mouth against the side of her head, looking pained.
"Don't be sorry, it's normal to show grief when someone that you loved dies. That was your Father. I would think you lacked any emotion if you didn't show something under the circumstances. You are normal Aris, you loved him. He knew that, and he loved you too," Helena told him gently, offering him comfort.
"This ruined our wedding day, and our wedding night. I'll need to prepare for his funeral, I'm sorry that I cannot join you in the chambers, but our traditions require me to mourn privately with his body over night before we set up the funeral. It's our way of saying goodbye. I don't expect you to stay in the room with me, I'd rather do it alone." Aris told her and reached down to squeeze her hand, "I'll make it up to you."
"Go, our wedding night can wait. We can have many nights together, but this is something that should take priority. I completely understand. I can even have Cindy keep me company if you think I shouldn't be alone tonight, but you do what needs to be done. I'll wait for you." Helena didn't know what the right thing to say was, she just knew she didn't want him to worry about her when he was grieving the loss of his father. They knew he'd been sick, but she supposed, like Aris's had, that there would have been more of a decline before he'd died.
"He hid it well," Aris muttered and ran a hand through his hair, his face was shocked, and his body tense. "How sick he was, I had no idea he was that close to leaving us. I knew the cough wasn't a good sign, but he held it together until we were married. I don't know how he managed to do that. I'm glad we didn't wait any longer."
Helena leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Aris, he was a good man, he stayed for you, to see his final wishes completed. His body was just too sick, I'll be here when you need me, you take care of everything you have to and don't worry about me. I'm not going anywhere."
"Thank you Helena. I know you being here came as a shock to you, but after spending time together, you're becoming invaluable to me. Thank you for being you." Aris told her and pressed another soft kiss to her temple before leaving her there for the guards to escort her back to her chambers for her wedding night that she would be spending alone.
Instead of a wedding celebration with a big party afterwards, people would be mourning the loss of their King. Helena felt guilty. Even though she knew it wasn't her fault, she wondered if there was anything she could have done to help had she known how sick he felt today. He obviously hadn't told anyone how bad he was feeling, his physician's were as shocked as everyone else that he'd dropped dead.
Chapter 13
Helena was wearing a formal mourning outfit that Aris had provided for her. She was walking next to him with her head bowed according to their tradition next to her husband as they carried the King's body to the burial plot in the royal cemetery.
They would bury him and then go back and honor his life with an epic celebration. Helena thought a day of grief, and then a celebration to remind everyone of the joy of life and the good things he offered during his life was a good way to celebrate someone's life and mark a period to actually start moving forward. Funeral's always depressed her.
She wasn't sure if it was the reminder of her own mortality that the death brought up, or just that she felt everyone else's grief and sadness and it overwhelmed her to the point where she felt like she couldn't breathe and needed to get away from them.
Aris slipped his hand silently in hers and walked the rest of the way to the burial plot. The advisor was there, and ready to say a few words about Hydan's life, and his role as the King. This was for the closest members of the family, the plot would be open for others to come and pay their respects later. Aris's cousin was here with her husband, and a few other close family friends.
Helena was there because she was Aris's wife now, but none of the other slaves were present. Cindy had complained when Helena had told her about the funeral and promised sh
e'd see her at the celebration after.
It went buy quickly, they lowered the casket into the ground and buried him, placing dirt and soil over the grave until it was full. As they filled the hole to the top, the Advisor described his life, all the good things he did, and a handful of memories and stories that made them laugh and almost cry.
Aris finally spoke, "My father is finally joining my mother in the ever after. I know that's why he had no other wives in this lifetime, he felt she was always watching and waiting for him and he didn't want to dishonor her memory. I know that he had me pick a wife in mind, hoping I would try to find a woman to love as much as he loved my mother. I don't know if what me and Helena will share will be as passionate, or loving as what my mother and father shared, but I will use them as the example to follow when I am King. Our people deserve no less, and my father was a good King, kind, compassionate, he listened to the people and he always tried to do the right thing. Even at his own personal expense at times. I hope I can follow in his footsteps and be half the man my father was."
Helena wiped away a single tear and thought it was beautiful. He was such a kind, and good man inside, even if he refused to show it to the outside world most of the time.
Helena walked over to him quietly and grabbed his hand, patting his arm gently and smiled at him. When his cousin had her turn to speak, she stared evil daggers at both Aris and Helena and then looked straight at the advisor.
