A Warrior's Return (The Royal Houses of Sea and Snow, #3)

by Marquez, Jude

  Eamon pulled his hand away and was not surprised to find that it was damp with blood. Even Alik’s hair was streaked with red.

  “Are you feeling... Well?” Eamon asked, floundering for the words he was searching for.

  The question seemed to puzzle Alik.

  “Of course. Why would I not be?” He asked. He turned to Osonia. “I will need a scribe, a messenger, and a bath. In that order.”

  Osonia looked ill but turned when he bid her to.

  “You should ready the men. There is not much time. Go, I will be in our rooms,” Alik said and turned.

  As he left, Eamon saw that he left bloody footprints in his wake.

  When he turned, he saw that there were two footprints, Alik’s and his own.

  Issat followed his gaze and then met his eyes.

  “I will go find the Princess,” she whispered.

  Eamon was left alone with the bloody mess in the hallway.

  Chapter 11

  Alik’s information threw everything into chaos. Eamon had the men begin to build a perimeter around the castle, all the while pulling the villagers into the castle walls from their homes. It was hard work and some that Eamon wasn’t familiar with. He wasn’t proud to say that he was an invader, but he was proud to say that none had invaded the Isles until the most recent attack.

  Perhaps he should get more familiar with these maneuvers, he thought to himself.

  It took hours before he was able to return to the castle. The sun was almost setting, and he had not had news from the inside. He had to trust that everyone was doing as they were ordered and that the inside of the castle was being fortified. Eamon was tired, hungry, and still confused about the day’s events. As he headed back up to his room, he ordered a servant to bring food up. He wasn't surprised that his rooms were empty and that the fireplace was cold.

  He opened the outer doors again and look to the guards outside.

  "Have any of you seen Alik?"

  The guard nearest to him said, "I believe he is still in the war room, your highness. Should I send for him?"

  Eamon thought it over. Finally he shook his head and said, "Leave him be. I'm sure he will return to our rooms when he is ready."

  The guards nodded and Eamon close the door once again. He didn't know why he asked, he himself would have to leave soon to meet with the scouts. Instead he went to their bathing room and began to wash away the day’s dirt and work.

  He was lacing up his britches when the door opened and Alik entered the room.

  He looked surprised to see Eamon standing there and even more surprised to see food spread out on the table.

  "Done already?" His tone was brittle and apprehensive, as though he were waiting for a scolding.

  Eamon looked down to the laces in his hands and continued to tie them. "Nothing will be complete until the Vresal are dead."

  Alik didn't have anything to say to that. He went over to the table where the food was spread out and began picking through it.

  "And how are the fortifications here?"

  "Lambin and his parents will be in the northern tower. It's being fortified as we speak. I will be in the northeast tower. The nobles and everyone else will be scattered throughout the castle. I don't know what else to do with them," Alik said helplessly.

  Eamon pulled his tunic on over his head. "Sometimes there are no choices. Especially in times like this."

  Alik nodded but kept his back to Eamon.

  "Can we speak of what happened earlier?" Eamon asked.

  "What would you like to speak of?" Alik kept his tone light and even.

  "The manner in which you discovered this ambush," Eamon replied. He knew that he was heading into a different kind of trap but the sight of those two men dying in that dank cell would not leave him. Nor would the fact that Alik seemed so unaffected by it.

  "Every kingdom uses these tactics. I am sure that it is unusual to have a prince and a king get his hands dirty in such a manner, but it was one thing that my father bragged about. That I could carve the truth from any man given enough time."

  Eamon didn't know what to say to that and Alik finally turned to face him. Eamon noted how pale he was and the dark circles underneath his eyes. That last night they spent in Stormholme was on his mind just as much as it was on Eamon's. He knew Alik was thinking of how they lost almost everything that night. Here and now, there was so much more at stake.

  "Nothing you do surprises me anymore," Eamon said.

  "That's a shame," Alik replied.

  Eamon floundered. He knew that they needed to discuss what happened and he wanted Alik to know that he understood that he only did what he thought was necessary. There was a hint of betrayal, though. He wished that they hadn't fought so that Alik hadn't felt the need to do this all alone. But what was done, was done. There was an invading army breathing down their necks and Eamon needed to fix this, quickly.

  "I don't know where to begin."

  "Most people begin with their disgust. However, you can begin wherever you'd like, a king's choice if you will," Alik said smoothly.

  Eamon stared at him. "Perhaps these delicate nobles would be disgusted with you, but I'm not. If you think that I would shy away from a little blood and I don't think we know one another at all."

  Alik seems startled by his reply. He clearly was not expecting that. "And if it's not my methods you would want to discuss, then what is it?"

  "There is a divide between us that I wish to bridge. Now is not the time for petty fights. I trust you, and I need you to trust me with everything that you know."

  Alik stared at him and for a long moment Eamon expected him to fight again. Instead, he visibly deflated. Alik’s shoulders slumped and he bowed his head.

  "I hated learning everything about picking up a knife. But I used to think to myself, Cor had to go fight, I can learn to do this to help him. If Cor could leave our home and fight these men and keep us safe than I could learn to deal with this. I would tell myself that it wasn't so much, this thing that I had to do."

  "Any sacrifice that you make of yourself is too much to ask. But if we are to lead our countries into a time of peace, then we must do what no one else can."

  Alik nodded. "I understand that. And I know that if we had not fought, you would not have asked me to do what I did. But you know better than most that I am rash and that I often do before I consider the consequences."

  Eamon nodded.

  "And for once I thought, that I could do something, get information, that no one else could. That I could do this for you and instead of being helpless and useless and being guarded and kept in a tower that I could give you this one thing."

  "It isn't for me –" Eamon started.

  "I am not noble like you!" Alik cried out.

  Eamon was startled into silence.

  "Everything I do is selfish. Every move I make in this court is to keep the throne mine. Everything that has brought me to this point is to protect our family and avenge the ones we lost. I do not torture and cut apart men so that our country will prosper. I do it, and I will do it again, only to keep you safe."

  The silence in the room was heavy and thick. Alik stared at Eamon and improbably, began to laugh.

  "Hate me if you will, but I will do everything in my power to keep you safe."

  Alik headed for the door once more but Eamon caught his arm and even when Alik fought him and tried to get Eamon to let him go, Eamon only tightened his grip.

  "If anyone dares to call you selfish, send them to me. I will kill them with my bare hands. There will be no mercy of knife or sword."

  Eamon kept his grip tight on Alik’s arm and pulled him close. He leaned down and kissed him, wrapped his arms around Alik and felt Alik melt into him, like he always did.

  “No one has sought to protect me in the ways that you do and I know that no one ever will. There is none for me but you, through anger and through wars, I swear it,” Eamon said against Alik’s lips.

  “Is all forgiven, then
?” Alik whispered against Eamon’s mouth and tore the tunic that Eamon was wearing open.

  The desperation was tangible. They had to be as close together as possible and Eamon could think of no better way than the one that Alik was reaching for, as he unlaced Eamon’s britches.

  “There was nothing to forgive,” Eamon said and began to work the laces free Alik's tunic and britches.

  When Alik was finally free of his clothes, Eamon locked the door and turned to find Alik on his hands and knees on the bed. As Eamon watched, Alik lowered his shoulders and head to the bed.

  “Quickly,” Alik muttered.

  They did not have the time for much, but Eamon would not deny himself one thing, not on this night, when he had to confront the enemy at their gates.

  He climbed on the bed, behind Alik, and spread his cheeks apart. He dove in first with his tongue, licking and kissing Alik’s hole. There was nothing sweeter on his tongue than Alik’s taste or the sound of his moans filling the room.

  Eamon worked him open with his tongue first and began to fuck him with it, slowly licking him open until Alik was grasping his own cheeks and holding himself open for Eamon’s mouth and began pushing back on his tongue.

  “Eamon, it is not enough. Please-” Alik gasped as Eamon dribbled a bit of oil down his cheeks, massaged it in, and then thrust one finger deep into his ass.

  “Is that enough?” Eamon growled as Alik pushed back once more.

  “No, I need more,” Alik groaned.

  A little bit more oil and another finger. Eamon crooked his fingers to find that spot inside Alik that made him gasp and groan and mutter all types of obscenities.

  “Give me your cock,” Alik begged and looked over his shoulder. “Please, my King. Only your cock will fill me properly.”

  “You are not ready-”

  “I am, please. I need to feel you inside of me,” Alik pleaded.

  The desire in Eamon was running just as high. He decided to trust Alik and smoothed some oil over his own aching cock and then lined himself up against Alik’s entrance. He pushed inside and then began to slowly push deeper. He had to hold onto Alik’s hips because he kept trying to push back faster than Eamon wanted to go.

  This was one battle Eamon could not win.

  Alik finally managed to push back onto Eamon’s cock until it was buried deep inside of him and without any encouragement, began to move back and forth, stroking Eamon’s cock with his tight walls.

  Eamon threw his head back and let out a loud, low groan as Alik continued his movements.

  Then his velvety smoothness was gone and he was pushing Eamon down. Eamon went, happy to give whatever it was that Alik needed from him. Eamon ended up against the headboard, his back against the pillows and then Alik climbed up on top of him, his back to Eamon.

  His slid down Eamon’s length and paused when he could go no further. Alik threw his head back and sighed. “I do not say this to stroke your ego, but you have the largest cock I have ever taken in my ass. You fill me in ways that I did not know was possible. When we are like this-” Alik gasped when Eamon shoved up a little, “I feel complete.”

  “Then do with me what you will,” Eamon whispered.

  Alik’s rhythm was slow to begin with but he sped up until he was bouncing on Eamon’s hard length. He stopped, rearranged himself so that he was holding himself up on his knees and looked over his shoulder to Eamon who was watching him, his arms behind his head.

  “I tire, my King. Please, would you fuck me?” He asked sweetly.

  “Only to please my Prince,” Eamon said. He took hold of Alik’s hips and began to fuck up into his tight and wet hole. It only took him a few strokes to build up a pace that was hard and fast, jolting through Alik’s entire body. He wrapped one arm around Alik’s waist and then reached for his cock with his other hand.

  Eamon wouldn’t last much longer and he wanted Alik to get his pleasure before Eamon got his.

  Eamon stroked him in time with his thrusts and he felt Alik’s cock grow harder still and then explode over his hand. Alik slumped back over Eamon’s shoulder.

  With some maneuvering, Eamon put Alik face down on the bed and spread his thighs before pushing deep inside of him in one stroke. They both groaned and Eamon watched Alik grip the blankets.

  “Shall I stop?” Eamon asked and stilled, buried deep in Alik’s ass.

  “Please, no,” Alik whispered. “Fuck me.”

  Eamon took him at his word and laid down over him, kept himself in as much contact with Alik as he could, and kept thrusting deep inside of him.

  This was where he wanted to stay, Eamon decided. He wanted to stay here and make love with his husband until they were both spent and wake up to do it all over again.

  But there was a war to fight and this was the only moment he was guaranteed.

  So he put everything he had into those movements, into thrusting deep inside of Alik, branding the other man as his in the most primal way he could.

  He knew that his own pleasure was coming soon, so he pulled out and flipped Alik over before wrapping his legs around his own waist and pushing inside of him again. He was loose and slick and moaned Eamon’s name and this was Eamon’s heaven.

  “I want to see your face when I come,” Eamon whispered.

  Alik reached up and pulled him down, kissed him and then let him lean back as Eamon felt the pleasure begin to build to heights he had not known with anyone else in all his life.

  He thrust into Alik’s entrance once more and held himself still, pumping his seed deep into Alik, and held him close.

  “There will never be any but you for me,” Alik whispered and tightened around Eamon’s cock, still buried inside of him.

  For however long was left of his life, Eamon knew that the same was true for him.

  Chapter 12

  The air was still and cold.

  The grounds around the castle were coated with a fresh blanket of snow. It seemed like the castle and the village below were abandoned. There wasn't even movement from any animals.

  It was eerie, and Eamon could see the trepidation on the soldiers faces.

  Then the first of the Vresal soldiers stepped into their line of sight.

  Eamon glanced up and down the line. Just as he commanded, no one moved. He knew that he couldn't see anyone above him in the towers, but he glanced up there anyway. He prayed once more to any of the gods that would be listening to him and turned his eyes back to the Vresal soldiers that were flooding the front of the castle. He gave a signal, a simple flash of a mirror he held in his hand, and above him a single flaming arrow arched high above them and landed in the midst of the invading soldiers.

  The tar that had been planted there lit up and for one silent, cold moment, no one moved.

  Then, a horse reared and the silence broke like glass shattering on a stone floor.

  A rain of arrows from above followed as the fire began to spread quickly throughout the dry and dead trees. Eamon held his men back and let the arrows and the fire do much of the work for them. It wasn't pretty, but it never was.

  As the front ranks thinned, more soldiers arrived to take their place. Eamon was just thankful that his men were rested and fed, as opposed to the Vresal army. They obviously came a long way with little rest and less food.

  Eamon did not take any joy in the fact that this fight would be easier than he thought it would be. As more soldiers flooded in, he gave the signal for the men on horseback to ride in. He led them, and his instinct took over and Eamon stopped thinking.

  ALIK PACED THE LENGTH of the room in the tower that he occupied. It was his choice to stay in here, and he did it to give Eamon some peace of mind, but that did not make it any easier, knowing that Eamon was out there. Alik looked out the window once in a while, but he couldn't tell Eamon from the others down below. Watching the battle rage on and knowing he couldn't do anything from so high above made it worse. So Alik moved away from the window.

  Heaven's Infinite were all silent an
d still. They had no words to offer because they didn't know any more than he did. With the rest of the family locked away, he didn't even have the luxury of bantering back and forth with someone he was familiar with.

  As a precaution, everyone was armed, including Alik. He had a sword belted to his waist and his bow over his shoulder. The arrows were on a nearby table.

  Alik wanted nothing more then to shut out the sounds of the battle below. He had never felt more useless in his life and he hated that Eamon was out there without him. He was no great warrior, there were no tales told about him throughout the land, but he knew how to handle himself in a fight.

  There was no talking to the war council or Eamon about Alik going into battle, though. Alik knew that they had a point and that if Eamon was injured or killed, Alik would have to take his place.

  The same thoughts kept rolling around in his head and there was no solution presented to him about any of it. It was the one time that he could not talk anyone into seeing his way of things. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he could already feel himself growing restless and impatient without having heard anything from the battle below. It hadn't been that long and there probably wasn't even news to be told but Alik was already fighting himself to not order the guards aside and go down and see for himself.

  He was about to do just that when someone pounded on the door. In a single movement all of the guards turned to the door and drew their weapons. On the other side, a voice called out to them.

  "King Alik!" It was Sir Clifton.

  The guards around him exchanged a look. Perhaps they sensed their own kings wariness of the man, or perhaps it was their own instincts that kept them from opening the door. The guard closest to the door looks back over his shoulder at Alik for guidance. Alik was about to tell him to open the door when he was interrupted.

  "They are inside! They are inside the castle! Do not open the door for any that do not have a key," Clifton called out.

  Eamon was the only one with the key.

  "I will go inform the others. Please, do not open the door, not for anything," Clifton sounded desperate and out of breath. If he had run up this entire way just to tell them that, he would have to be.