by Imogen Sera
“One or all of whom could be loyal to him,” she said, repeating his words. “I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either, but we aren’t exactly swimming in loyal allies right now. I know this is new to you, love, but I promise I’m capable of defending myself if it comes to it. You’re not.”
Ingrid chewed her lip, frustrated that he was right. She moved to sit sideways on his lap, her hand locked with his and her head on his chest. “When?”
“As soon as we can. Tomorrow, if you’re feeling back to normal. I can’t leave you before I know you’re alright.” He moved his hand to rest gently against her cheek.
“I’m alright,” she said, and turned her head to kiss his palm. “I’ll miss you.”
“Only two or three days, love,” he said, pulling her head against him, “but I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”
She relaxed her head there, listening to his strong heartbeat. His arms were wrapped around her and his chin rested on her head; she basked in the feeling of security that came from being so close to him. He sighed heavily, the sound reverberating through his chest.
“I don’t like leaving you,” he murmured, and Ingrid nodded slightly.
“I know. What shall I do here while you’re gone?”
“I have a few ideas,” he said, and as she leaned back to look at him she saw his eyebrows were raised.
This would be interesting.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It was not interesting. A huge map was spread across a large table in the Council Room, and Helias was excitedly explaining the history of each region of Arnes to her. It should have been interesting, learning the history of a race that until months ago she’d believed were myth, but he seemed more absorbed by the imports and exports of each region than anything remotely related to conquering and carnage.
She watched him affectionately, enjoying his enthusiasm, if not the content of what he said. She slumped back in his big padded chair at the head of the table, exhausted but not wanting to admit it. She was trying to pay attention, really she was. She was queen, and the least she should have known were the names of the many regions.
“I’m boring you,” he said suddenly.
“Never,” she said, but smiled sheepishly. “It’s just a lot of information.”
“I know,” he said, and crossed the room to kneel in front of her seat. “I want you to know everything because I want you to be able to choose what role you have here. I want you to be happy doing what you want. My mother didn’t have a choice. That’s not what I want for you.”
Ingrid watched him, touched.
“And I want you to learn about everything, because maybe negotiating trade agreements between regions will make you happy. Maybe you want to cook, and you can join the servants to make dinner every night. Maybe you want to lay in bed all day and read books and eat snacks. I wouldn’t love you any less. I don’t care what you do, I just care that you enjoy it. I’ve seen you manage a household, I know you’re capable of it, but I also know that you hated it. I don’t want you to hate anything here.”
Ingrid’s chin wavered. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted. The freedom to choose.”
He leaned toward her and placed his hands on her cheeks. “You have it. You’re free. You don’t owe anyone anything. If you don’t like your ladies getting you dressed tell them to go the fuck away. If you don’t like the decor in your rooms demand it be torn down. If you don’t like a meal then have something else.”
“I don’t think I could do any of those things,” she said quietly.
“No, Ingrid, you could. You won’t, because I know you, but I need you to know that you could. You are queen, the only person with authority over you is me, and we both know that that’s not the case. I’m yours to command. We are all yours, and we all want you to be happy and love your life here.”
She studied his face carefully. There was earnestness there, but also fear. She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him into her neck. “You’re my life here,” she said quietly into his ear. “I don’t doubt I’ll find ways to occupy myself. I want to be useful, and I’ll make myself so. But please don’t think I won’t be happy here. If you’re here then I’m happy.”
They remained like that, embracing while Helias knelt and Ingrid sat, until advisers began to file in.
“Stay?” he murmured to her.
“Always,” she whispered back.
.....
Ingrid was good at this. Helias had had no doubt that she would be, but he was surprised by how quickly she was comfortable asking for details about various situations described by different advisers, and how confidently she’d laid out her thoughts on one matter in particular. He shouldn’t have been surprised, he knew how decisive she could be. Helias like to take as much time as possible to weigh every option, but Ingrid seemed to know what was best almost right away. She had excellent instincts.
He thought of his speech to her. She’d seemed pleased, which pleased him in turn. He hadn’t intended to tell her all he did; but as she sat there, tired and bored, she’d reminded him so much of his mother that he couldn’t control himself. He didn’t want Ingrid to end up like that.
He loved his mother, of course, and still mourned for her. He couldn’t deny, though, that she’d been miserable with her place in life. Mated to his father, constrained by his side through his rage and insanity, her only solace had been her children. He was struck almost painfully by a pang of longing then. He wished she had known Ingrid.
He watched his little mate as she drew a diagram, trying to describe her idea for fairly dividing disputed land to the old men around the table. She was still seated in Helias’s chair, and he’d noticed raised eyebrows and the old men had filed in, but he didn’t think Ingrid had. He wanted to replace them all. She glanced at him with big eyes, seeking approval, and he smiled encouragingly. He shouldn’t have doubted her. She was already finding something she was good at. He had known she would.
He struggled to focus on anything going on around the table, thinking instead of the following day. He would be taking Caelian, Reis, and a contingent of guards to an openly hostile neighbor. With a lying general. And guards whose loyalty was unknown. He hated everything about this, but he didn’t see another option. Reis wouldn’t remain here with Ingrid, and he certainly couldn’t take Ingrid with him to a place that was openly hostile. He rubbed his forehead. He would have to trust in the guards, he supposed. And Caelian. He was concerned for his own safety, of course, but he really worried about what would become of Ingrid if something happened to him. He would need to put something in place.
He stood suddenly, and all of the eyes in the room went to him. He excused himself quickly and left the room, feeling Ingrid’s big eyes on his back.
He found Tarquin outside, soaring high in the gray sky. He waved at him impatiently, and a moment later his brother had landed in front of him and looked at him expectantly.
“We need to talk about Reis,” Helias said quietly, and strode inside to privacy.
“I don’t like this,” Tarquin said, sighing. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed against his chest.
“You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve heard that today,” said Helias, grinning at his youngest brother. “Do you have any better ideas?”
Tarquin shook his head. “Be careful. I’ll look after Ingrid, of course.”
“More than that,” Helias said quietly. “If something should happen— if things don’t go well, take her home please. Take her to the cottage.”
“Is that what she wants?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t discussed it. But I know that you understand my need to keep her safe.”
Tarquin nodded, silent.
“I have a bad feeling,” Helias admitted, “but this needs to be done.”
“This is moronic,” Tarquin spat.
“There’s the Tarquin I know and love. So what would you do?”
“I’d take my mate as far from here
as possible and hide away,” Tarquin said simply.
“And if you were king and that wasn’t really an option?” asked Helias.
“I’d do what you’re doing. But I’d hate it.”
Helias smiled wryly. “Then I suppose we’re on the same page.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The evening passed pleasantly despite the tension in the air. Ingrid sat in a plush chair facing the fireplace, and Helias was seated on the floor in front of her, his head resting back in her lap. She ran her fingers through his golden hair, savoring the feel of him, ignoring the scandalized looks from her ladies. They sat along the two side by side couches, chatting politely. Caelian and Tarquin were seated at a small table, playing cards, while Cassius sat on the floor in front of Ingrid’s ladies, seemingly enjoying all of the female attention.
“Tomorrow afternoon, Caelian,” Helias said as his brother looked at him with surprise.
“So soon?”
“I’m eager to get this over with.”
Cassius spoke up in his strangely accented voice. “My father is going with you?”
Ingrid watched Helias and Tarquin share a glance. No one else knew of their suspicions. “He is,” Helias confirmed.
“You’ll be safe, then,” said Cassius confidently.
Ingrid suppressed a sigh. She was terribly nervous, her heart fluttering and her mind focused on nothing but the day ahead. She knew that tonight would be goodbye. She also knew logically that they would return in three days and life could continue happily, but she couldn’t shake the odd sense of knowing that that wasn’t true. She’d spent so much of her life purposely ignoring her instincts, but now that she was acknowledging them she couldn’t seem to stop the odd little inklings that continually washed over her.
Ingrid watched her ladies silently, and noticed that Grace seemed to favor Cassius. She had bent forward to stroke his wrist, discreetly, not once but twice. There was nothing in it; there was something in it.
As Ingrid leaned forward to press a kiss to Helias’s brow, Elsie watched, wide eyed. Ingrid ignored her as she ran her hands down through his hair again, and continued until her fingertips met under his jaw, her hands holding his face. She tilted it up so he could see her.
“Bed?” she murmured quietly, and he grinned and nodded.
Helias rose and and stretched, then directed a look toward Vivian. “If anyone knocks on this door tomorrow I’ll rip off the arm that you knocked with.”
Grace looked horrified, but Vivian’s only response was to raise her eyebrows slightly before returning to her conversation. Ingrid rolled her eyes and shoved Helias toward the bedroom door.
.....
Almost as soon as the door closed Helias was on her, surrounding her, pushing her skirts aside and cupping her round bottom. Her gasp turned into a giggle against his mouth and her arms reached up to grasp the back of his neck. He hefted her against him, lifted her easily, and deposited her on his lap as he seated himself in a large arm chair. She straddled his legs, kissing him fiercely, fire dancing across her lips. She wiggled against him, enjoying the delicious friction between her legs, and when he groaned softly she giggled again. He was exquisite under her, all long thick muscles, the hard planes of his body flexing under her touch, his golden hair tousled handsomely, his hard length pressing into her.
Her fingers went to work on the buttons on his shirt as his mouth trailed from her lips to her jaw to her neck. Goosebumps covered her as his breath caressed softly across her ear. His grip on her ass remained firm, rubbing and kneading her there, and she found herself arching into his touch, trying to encourage his fingers to find her core from behind.
He stood suddenly, one arm locked around her to hold her against him, and removed his shirt. She reached down to undo his pants but was distracted when her fingers brushed against his cock. So hard and so very big; despite the frequency with which they needed each other his size surprised her each time. She grasped him through the cloth, running her hand along his length and grinning at his sharp intake of breath. He growled at her playfully, and a moment later his pants and her gown were in a heap at their feet.
Helias sat again and returned her to her position straddling him, this time with nothing between them. His attention turned to her breasts, his thumb brushing over her hard nipples, his lips and teeth and tongue lavishing the soft flesh under her breasts. All at once he took her nipple in his mouth, sucking, and Ingrid cried out and arched against him. The movement pressed her throbbing flesh between her legs against his hard length, and a moment later she was writhing on him, rubbing along his cock, the head pushing insistently against her clit.
Her release built inside her and she was over the edge before she realized it had happened, her opening clenching against nothing, her breath coming in ragged shudders. Helias held her against him as she shook, and when she had almost come down he adjusted himself and pushed into her. She froze at the delectable feeling, and when he began to move inside of her she couldn’t contain her moan.
He filled her completely, his hard length pushing against her walls, pressure on every part of her. She lifted herself slowly, and then came down quickly, burying him inside her. His hands returned to her ass, lifting her and lowering her, and as they crashed into each other harder and faster Ingrid came with a cry, and Helias soon after.
“I don’t want to leave you,” Helias said, later, still sprawled in the chair.
“I know,” Ingrid replied from his lap, her bare flesh pressed against his, a warm blanket tucked around her. She lifted his hand from where it rested on her shoulder and pressed a kiss against his palm. “I’ll miss you.”
He was silent for a moment while she enjoyed the rhythmic beating of his heart under her ear. His grip tightened slightly on her. “Do you want to get married?” he asked suddenly.
She turned to look at him, her brow furrowing. “I thought dragons didn’t get married.”
He smiled a small smile and shrugged very slightly. “We don’t, but you’re not a dragon. It seems important to humans.”
Ingrid chewed her lip as she thought. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Think about it, then,” he said, leaning to brush his lips across her cheek softly. “We’ll do whatever you want.”
“I know. We always do,” she said, smiling. She paused a minute. “Thank you,” she murmured quietly. “Thank you for always caring about what I want.”
“You’re my mate, I love you,” he said easily, “but I also respect you, Ing. You’re smart and capable and committed. I’m lucky to have you and Arnes is lucky to have you. I’m excited to really watch you become queen.”
Ingrid’s cheeks burned as she pressed her face against him.
“I want to be equals in ruling,” he continued. “I want to be equals in everything. You’re my partner.”
Ingrid nodded against his chest, holding his beloved hands, inhaling his precious scent, listening to his dear heartbeat.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The journey north had been uneventful. Helias had been sure to stay close by Reis, keeping a watchful eye on him, but the older man was as relaxed and charming as usual. Helias wondered again whether he and Ingrid had been mistaken. There was no malice in Reis’s face, no jealously in his character, no reason at all that he should be lying. He was, though, he reminded himself, and he needed to stop trying to explain it away and instead focus on discovering the truth.
Leaving Ingrid had been difficult. He had anticipated it would be, but he hadn’t realized how every fiber of him would physically ache to turn around and return to her; to crush her to him until they were one. She insisted that they say goodbye privately, in their bed chamber, because she didn’t want the courtiers to see her weep. She hadn’t wept, though, her chin had only quivered slightly as she threw herself into him and held him as if she could always keep him there. He’d tucked her head under his chin and breathed her scent from her hair, swaying slightly as
he held her.
She watched him leave through her window, her creamy thighs visible under the hem of his shirt, her small hand raised in a gesture of farewell; when he turned and saw the sight it took everything in him to not land and run back inside. The yearning had become worse the further they traveled from home, from her. He knew that she was capable, though, that he would return in a few days to find peaceful subjects, an organized council room, and a well informed, if lonely, mate.
They arrived at the great estate of Lord Renaud, his father’s old friend, shortly before sundown. Helias wasn’t sure what to expect; they had seen no signs of anyone on their way, their spotters had reported nothing unusual. He hoped that he would get a chance to speak with the lord, at least, and not to have to resort to battle immediately.
