A Prince's Duty (The Royal Houses of Sea and Snow Book 1)

by Jude Marquez

  Eamon turned and picked up the chiton from the chair. “You tempt me, Alik, but if I let the men get lazy right now then they will not be ready for what will follow.”

  Alik glared at Eamon.

  Eamon laughed at him.

  “We have days and nights ahead of us to enjoy ourselves to the fullest extent. In fact, if it would please you, I will call off afternoon drills for your favor,” Eamon said and raised an eyebrow.

  “You do please me. I suppose I will give into your negotiations. What will we do?” Alik asked.

  With his chiton secure, Eamon reached for his belt. He seemed to be thinking what they could do for their time together, even though there was only one thing that Alik had in mind.

  “I will take you out on the water,” Eamon finally decided and reached for his sword. As he belted it, he walked over to Alik once more and leaned down to kiss him. Alik returned the kiss easily and it quickly grew heated.

  Eamon pulled the blanket off of Alik and reached between his legs. He stroked Alik a few times and then leaned into his ear to whisper, “Do you remember what your promised me?”

  “To be here, waiting for you, ready,” Alik panted and arched his back into Eamon’s touch.

  “Just how I like my Prince. I will take you out on the water this evening, just you and I. Will you be ready for me then?”

  “Yes, my King,” Alik hissed.

  Eamon brought him off once more before licking his hand clean while Alik lay on his back, trying to catch his breath. When he reached for Eamon, where he could see he was hard, Eamon pushed his hand away.

  “This afternoon,” he promised and left.

  MUCH TO EAMON’S DISMAY, the mid-morning meetings ran into lunch and then into the afternoon, all because one lord insisted on more and more questions and further explanations. Alik was patient with him, explaining everything in detail more than once.

  Over lunch, Eamon leaned over to whisper in Alik’s ear, “Can we just not tell him what he gets and be done with it? The boat is waiting.”

  Alik smiled and shook his head. He leaned back and whispered in Eamon’s ear, “I am as eager as you to leave but I will not ruin your reputation, even for someone as magnificent as you.”

  Eamon huffed, leaned back in his chair, and glared at his plate. The meeting dragged on and eventually even Alik’s patience grew thin. Finally realizing he was skating on thin ice, the young lord accepted what the terms of the agreement were and quieted down.

  As Eamon helped Alik up with a hand in his, nodded at everyone, he caught Willhelm’s eye and the knight opened the door.

  There stood Alexios and Therris, with their own guard.

  Imperceptibly, Alik’s hand tightened on Eamon’s.

  Eamon would bet he didn’t even realize the action. He himself barely registered taking half a step forward and placing himself between Alexios and Alik.

  “Son,” Therris said. There was warmth in his tone but his voice was assessing. Eamon would bet he had already started drinking that morning because that was how he passed every morning, afternoon, and night these days.

  “Father,” Eamon said.

  Willhelm looked between the two and stepped away from the door, towards Alik.

  “I heard you were looking for me,” Therris said.

  Eamon tilted his head. “That was days ago. The matter is resolved.”

  “Hm,” Therris said.

  Eamon remained silent and surprisingly, so did Alik.

  “Might I have a word with you, son? In private?” Therris said.

  “Of course,” Eamon said and this time Alik gripped Eamon’s hand hard. “Willhelm, you and Nicolin stay with Prince Alik. Escort him to my wing. As soon as my father is done with me, I will meet you there.”

  Nicolin appeared in the doorway and just behind him, like Eamon summoned her, was Lissandra with her own guard and ladies. She took one look around the room and held Eamon’s gaze for a moment.

  “I was wanting some time alone with my future brother,” Lissandra said graciously and stepped between the men like they were her own ladies. She slipped her arm into Alik’s and smiled up at him.

  “Actually Princess, my wife and I were hoping to speak to Alik as well. Seeing as he will be King soon, there are a few things that we have yet to discuss,” Alexios said. His voice was tightly controlled and Eamon watched as he ground his teeth together.

  “Queen Aconi left with my mother and sister just a short time ago, bound for the markets. I don’t believe she is available, Your Highness,” Lissandra said quietly.

  Alexios fell silent.

  This time, Eamon couldn’t understand why Alexios wanted to get his hands on Alik. It didn’t seem to matter though, it was possible that Alexios could even pick a fight or go so far as to make something up.

  “Eamon-” Therris said.

  Eamon looked to his father. He seemed tired and perhaps Eamon was wrong. Perhaps his father was shouldering some of the burden of the upcoming war.

  Eamon brushed that thought off. His father was only drinking more than usual and it was taking its toll on him.

  “I do not wish to do this here but it must be discussed,” Therris said.

  “What?” Eamon asked, his voice barely above a growl.

  Therris glanced at the lords and ladies behind Eamon, pinned inside the room by their discussion.

  “If you are not of the guard or the royal family, leave,” Lissandra ordered.

  The people scurried for safety, as though they could already sense a great and mighty battle brewing and did not want to get caught in the crossfire.

  The doors were closed behind them and it was only the Kings’ Guard and Eamon’s left in the room with Therris, Alexios, Eamon, Alik, and Lissandra.

  “Sit,” Alexios said as he did so himself.

  The three did not move.

  Alexios glared at Eamon but Eamon barely seemed to notice.

  “Concerns have been raised,” Therris said and sat at the head of the table, where Eamon sat only moments earlier.

  “About what?” Alik asked.

  “The legitimacy of the throne. An heir. How titles will be passed down. All the things I warned you of when you insisted on your pick of a sibling and not a princess,” Alexios said.

  “We have already discussed this,” Alik said. He seemed to be coming back to his senses, picking up where Eamon did not.

  “Have you?” Alexios said. “Then tell me a solution that does not involve Lady Sexton and her brother. Because they are noble but they are not royal and they will not be, not while I live and breathe.”

  Eamon looked at Alik, the question clear in his eyes.

  Did Alik already have a son? Illegitimate? And who was Lady Sexton?

  “Of course not. I do not want Lady Sexton any closer to the throne than any sane person would,” Alik said.

  “Then what is your solution?” Therris pressed.

  “They have been promised my first born,” Lissandra said.

  Alik fought to keep his face blank and his body still.

  “Or Avelina’s, whoever shall bear a child first. The child will be given over to my Kings and they will raise the child as their own,” Lissandra went on.

  “When did you decide this? Why did you not speak to your mother or I?” Therris demanded.

  “When would I speak to you or mother? If you are not dead drunk in your bed, then you are out on the water or dismissing any discussion I might try to begin,” Lissandra snapped and there was that temper that Alik had been witness to on Cerith.

  “I will have-” Therris began and then Eamon stepped up close to his father, cutting off his field of vision of either Alik or Lissandra.

  “Nothing, should you want your head to remain where it is and your sons to keep your throne. Go. Drink all our wine, eat all our food, but do not dare pick up the mantle of King when it suits you. I run this country with the help of my siblings and have done so for years. Do not think it is possible for you to do it any longer,”
Eamon said.

  Therris stood and drew himself up to his full height but still had to look up at his son. “You ingrate-”

  “Take him,” Eamon snapped and the King’s Guard, so much more used to orders from Eamon than Therris, did as they were told. They ushered both kings from the room, though they protested.

  When they were alone, Eamon’s shoulders relaxed. Then he turned to his sister. “That was rash.”

  “It was expected,” Lissandra said and looked at her brother strangely. “I meant what I said, the first time I said it.”

  “We were children, how was I supposed to remember?”

  “Because I gave you my first born from the moment that I realized who you might love, that’s how.”

  Eamon shook his head.

  “What just happened?” Alik asked.

  Lissandra stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “A promise made and a promise kept. Go. Your boat awaits.”

  BEFORE THEY HEADED down to the docks, Eamon stopped to talk to Nicolin and Willhelm. They were quiet and as Alik leaned in closer to hear what they discussed, Issat pulled him back.

  “What happened?” She whispered.

  Alik quickly relayed what happened with the kings and she pursed her lips and stared out at the window. It was already dark.

  “What?” Alik prompted.

  Issat shook her head, the torchlight catching the shine on her dark hair. “I just worry for you is all. I will write Margrave. He will tell me I am being ridiculous.”

  Alik studied Issat. Her dislike for his cousin was well known as his was for her. “It must be serious if you are writing to him.”

  She smiled at him. “I wish he came with us.”

  “Is everything alright?” Alik asked, alarmed.

  “Yes. On the surface, I believe so. I cannot put words to it, only that there is something there that I cannot put my finger on. Go, have fun,” she said

  Eamon stepped up next to Alik. “Shall we?” He asked.

  Alik nodded but kept his eyes on Issat. Eamon noticed and hesitated before he turned to her. “Lissandra has requested that you stay the night in her rooms. She does not like the idea of you, alone, in my wing.”

  The relief on Issat’s face was clear.

  “Of course. I will attend the Princess right away,” she said and began to turn.

  Eamon stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Straight away. Should you need something from your rooms, please send one of my men for it.”

  They exchanged a long look, but Issat nodded slowly. “Of course, Your Majesty,” she said and Willhelm and Nicolin fell in step beside her.

  They watched the three of them walk the opposite way that they were going and Alik turned to Eamon. “Should we even go?”

  Eamon considered his words but nodded. “If we don’t, it will be obvious why we did not. We will look like we don’t trust the men to handle what we need while we are gone.”

  Alik agreed and when Eamon offered him his hand, he took it.

  Eamon led them out and to his horse. They rode to the docks and when they were there, Alik saw a small sailing boat with a few men and servants gathered around.

  “Your Highness,” one of the servants said and bowed. “Everything you requested is onboard.”

  “Thank you,” Eamon said and the servant beckoned the others and they left, in the direction of the castle.

  “Inspected top to bottom,” one of the men reported before he and the others also took their leave.

  Eamon rowed them out before setting the sails. Alik didn’t know much about sailing or boats and just tried to stay out of the way. Eamon had that look on his face that said that his movements were automatic and he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing.

  Once they caught the winds, they were sailing out to sea. Alik had no idea how far out they would go and part of him wished that they could just go on forever. The sailing was smooth and the water was like glass. The stars were clear overhead and it didn’t take long before Alik felt the boat slow and then Eamon was dropping the anchor overboard. Alik could still see the lights of the village and the castle but they were far enough away that it didn’t matter. It felt private enough.

  Eamon sat across from Alik and Alik went to him, knelt between his legs, and kissed his jaw.

  “You are worried.”

  “You are perceptive.”

  “It’s been said. Would you like to tell me what is on your mind?”

  Eamon was silent for a moment but Alik learned that this was only his way of gathering his thoughts to say something that was important. It was part of what Alik admired so much about him. His words were not thrown about as though they meant nothing.

  “I feel hemmed in on all sides. I feel like now that I know you, now that I see that we could create a kind of happiness together, I feel like it could be slipping away,” Eamon said quietly.

  “Do you believe that they could take this from us?” Alik asked. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Eamon’s jaw, his stubble rough against Alik’s lips.

  “I believe they could. My father is easily persuaded and I believe that your father would cause you unhappiness just because he could,” Eamon said.

  Alik sat back on his heels and searched Eamon’s face.

  “Do I speak out of turn? Should I not speak ill of your father?” Eamon asked.

  Alik opened his mouth but shook his head and chuckled. “So few people are willing to speak badly of my father since I am his son and he is the king. They worry that I will tell him and then they will be punished.”

  “I do not believe that you would do that to me.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  Eamon raised his hands to Alik’s face, traced his cheekbones and lingered over his jaw. “You are favored by the moon.”

  “And you by the sun,” Alik said and caught his wrists in his hands. He kissed Eamon’s open palm. “Is this lust? It feels like lust, like I am drunk on it. But I feel as though I could remain drunk on you for all my days and never miss sobriety.”

  “Maybe. Maybe it is, but I do not wish for it to end. Lust wears on me, feels thin and brittle. I hope that it is not. I want to be buried in this,” Eamon murmured.

  Alik wasn’t sure how he felt about being buried in something, even if it was how he felt, because it was so intertwined in death. But Eamon lived so much of his life near death, blood, and violence that it made a strange sort of sense.

  “Did you bring me out here to talk?” Alik asked.

  “If you wanted to, yes.”

  “And if there were other things that I wanted to do?”

  “We could swim, I suppose. There is food, cards to play a game, all manner of things.”

  Alik was dressed in a chiton and tunic, as he was most days. He stood and straddled Eamon’s lap and kissed him. “I thought you brought me out here so you could fuck me under the stars.”

  “I didn’t want to presume,” Eamon said and let Alik undo his hair from the leather strip. He ran his hands through Eamon’s hair, let the strands fall through his fingers.

  “I wouldn’t figure that warriors would want long hair,” Alik remarked.

  “It annoys my father. When I started wearing it like this, so did the other men. Now it’s just a matter of pride,” Eamon explained.

  Alik couldn’t help but laugh. He thought it had something to do with honor or duty or glorious battles won, but to see that someone as great as Eamon was as petty as he was made him feel a great deal better. He kissed Eamon again and again.

  “When we were in Cerith and you were so angry at me, I never would have thought we would end up here,” Alik remarked.

  Eamon raised his eyebrows. “Me? Angry? I was never angry at you, not until you made that remark about Avelina’s dress. It was you who constantly picked fights.”

  “I did not!”

  “You did. You were like a child, picking a fight with all of us.”

  Alik opened his mouth to argue but then he remembered how
he was, how he reacted so instinctively towards Eamon when he was around. He turned into a surly child, for no reason.

  Eamon smirked when Alik realized that he was right.

  “Fine,” Alik muttered and leaned down for another kiss. “Still seems unlikely.”

  EAMON LET ALIK TAKE the lead, loved being the recipient of so many gentle touches and kisses. Alik kissed unlike everything else he did in life. He was slow, patient, explored everything to his liking and Eamon’s as well. He let Alik tip his head this way and that so he could trail warm lips down his throat and up again, kissed the corner of his mouth, everything feather light and sweet, the complete opposite of the night before.

  Eamon unlaced his tunic and pulled it over Alik’s head, loving the feeling of his warm skin under his palms. He still did not hurry Alik, did not press his half hard cock to Alik’s, did not move to take his chiton off.

  “Did you mean what you said last night?” Alik asked between kisses.

  “Yes. Which part are you referring to?” Eamon asked.

  Alik laughed. “Shouldn’t you have asked that before saying yes?”

  “I mean everything I say to you. I have nothing to gain by lying to you.”

  “When you said that I belonged in your bed.”

  “Yes.”

  “And when you said that you wanted to do the work next time.”

  “Yes.”

  Alik slipped Eamon's chiton free of the pins and laid the sides out on the bench that Eamon sat on. “Sail us far away. Take me to some empty island where you and I can live away from this and we never have to wear clothes and speak to bothersome lords and ladies.”

  Alik presseed a small vial of oil into Eamon’s hand.

  “Tell me more about your island,” Eamon murmured and kissed Alik’s bare shoulder.

  “There would be shade and warmth and plenty to eat. You wouldn’t have to fight any longer-”

  Alik heard Eamon open the vial and shivered in his arms as he slid his hands up Alik’s chiton.

  “Go on.”

  “And we would sleep away the morning and early afternoon and wake up in each other’s arms-”

  Eamon watched Alik’s face as he began to gently massage his hole, careful of any lingering ache from the night before. There was no telltale sign and Alik scooted even closer to Eamon, spreading his legs wider.