Chapter 10 Azul
Azul
If I ever had to describe peace, it would be this.
Lying in bed, wrapped in Carrion’s arms, with his cock pressed deeply inside my womb. He didn't need to thrust or grind; I just held him inside me as the life of our daughter pulsed between us.
With his face buried against my neck, his warm breaths were gentle against my soft skin as he slept, and I was perfectly content.
I didn’t realize how desperately I wanted this feeling until Carrion laid me down and held me like a jewel.
I watched the window, my sharp teeth worrying my lip as the orange sky turned blue, and the sounds of the armies preparing for the long journey home echoed up to our room.
I pressed my hand against my stomach. Even though Carrion was my mate and he’d bred me so hard that my daughter now lay under my palm, it didn't mean that he’d stay in the Sapphire Shores to raise her. He’d only promised that she’d be strong, not that he'd teach her that strength.
“Are you awake?” he murmured next to my ear, and I sighed back into him.
My spine molded perfectly with the hard muscles of his chest, and his hand moved to my stomach, threading his fingers through mine
“I’m here,” I replied, caution in my voice. I couldn’t see his face, but even if he was smiling, it was easier not to trust him. If he really was going to leave, I didn't want to hope that he'd come back.
“Your Majesty… Azul…” I knew what he needed to say, but part of me wanted to kick him out before he had the chance.
The pause stretched out so long that my whole body was tense with expectation. I let myself give too much during the night, and this was the consequence.
“I must return to my kingdom. They are waiting for me.”
“You never made me any promises, Carrion. I got what I wanted from you.”
He lifted himself up on one elbow to look over me.
“Don’t you care about what might happen to us?”
“There is no us. We spent one night together. I needed your cum. That was it.”
“If that’s the case, then why won’t you look at me?”
I sighed as he stroked me with his thumb, and that was enough to calm me down.
Especially when it felt like he was connecting with our daughter as well.
I couldn't believe I could really feel her. There was a spark of light in the darkness behind my eyelids, like she was reminding me she was here.
I finally saw what my mother meant when she said I would understand how much she loved me when I had a child.
“What about your queen? What about the Sun Nation?” I asked, sounding like a grumpy child.
Carrion just laughed in reply as he ground his ass against me. “You talk as if I'm abandoning you. I'm returning to tell my queen I have a new nation to serve.”
I twisted my head so I could meet his confident eyes. “She's only just been created, how could you say that? You're just a human.”
He bent closer, and I instinctively rocked my chin back as he kissed me. Life bloomed between us, and the pulsing star that was our daughter strengthened as I opened my heart to him.
“Can’t you feel this too?” he murmured against my lips. He sighed as he smiled at me, looking nothing like the hardened man who had prepared to take the troops to war against the demon lord, or the rough lover who promised to fill me until I was swollen.
“Azul, the number of wars I’ve fought, the number of friends I've lost, all the sacrifices that I've had to make for my queen and my country… What has it ever gained me? But here, with you, with our daughter, I’ve found a new reason to live. I found a princess; I found someone to serve.”
How could I resist him now?
“You’re speaking a lot of big words for the commander of another nation,” I said.
“Then what about you? Do you feel the same?”
I wanted to shout that, of course, I felt the same. There was no way I couldn't when he was my mate.
Carrion groaned as he pulled his cock from me, both of us gasping at the release.
He rose from the bed, and that was an automatic signal it was over.
I tried not to let my heart plunge, but it was already free-falling as I sat up. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and the claws on my feet tapped against the floor.
Though shadow bathed Carrion's body as he leaned down to his pile of clothes next to the bed, the sun was high and his vampire queen waited for him
“Give me your hand, Your Majesty.”
I looked at him sceptically as he reached for his pants, pulling a ring on a leather strap from the front pocket.
“I’ve held onto this since I was a child. It was my father’s, and his father’s. It’s an heirloom that carries the memory of my people. When my parents died, I inherited this ring, and I always intended to give it to my mate, should I ever find them.”
My heart burned in my throat as he stepped towards the bed, dropping to one knee. My ears twitched as my scales shuddered across my body.
Carrion undid the leather strap that bound it, tucking it into the pocket of his shirt as he held out the ring to me.
“Your Majesty, I know it is presumptuous of me, I know how many miles below your station I am. It’s audacious for me to even think that you could one day love someone like me, but I ask you this: will you take this ring as a token of my affection?”
My hands clenched next to my thighs as I hardened my jaw. I had a choice to make, and the one I wanted most of all involved me reaching out my hand to take the ring.
Taking him from the queen might start a war. Considering how precious humans were, I’d never let Carrion leave me if he chose the Sapphire Shores.
But the fact he’d given me a child should sway him in our favor, and we could propose a treaty with their queen. I wasn’t sure what we’d have to give to keep Carrion, but it could cost more than we could afford.
“Your Majesty… Please say something. Even if I am to become a member of your harem, as long as I can be with you and our daughter, I will accept it. If you wish to throw me away, I will still support our daughter, no matter what the cost.”
My eyes widened as I sucked in a breath. “If you think I’m going to have a harem after all that, you can dream on,” I scoffed. There was no way I was fucking anyone else now that I found my mate.
A smile brightened his face, and he took my hand, holding it fondly as he continued.
“We may know nothing about each other except that our bodies are compatible, but we can learn. And even if we don’t come to love each other, we can love our princess.”
“I never said I wouldn’t love you. But if you choose me, we have to be a family. You have to stay here to raise her. I won’t accept anything else.”
He let out a rushed breath. His body shuddered as he suddenly pitched forward, throwing his arms around my hips to press his cheek against my stomach.
“Thank God.” He laughed. “Thank God you said that, because I don’t know if I could stand loving you and knowing you don't feel the same way.”
I groaned because now he’d got me. He was a warrior on his knees and holding me, holding us like we were all that mattered. He leaned back, looking at me with pure openness, catching my fallen heart and stealing it.
I could lay down more terms, but something told me he’d accept anything I asked him to do, and that made my gills flutter even more.
I held out my hand for him, and I sighed happily as he graciously slipped the ring on my middle finger.
It glowed red, then yellow, morphing into green as its size adjusted, and it fit perfectly on my finger above the webbing, glowing blue.
“This is an oath to you, Azul, prince of the Sapphire Shores. But I must talk to my queen and explain to her the change.”
He kissed my stomach before he rose as love flowed from him.
I watched him silently as he put on the clothes he’d thrown off last night in a rush of passion. I didn’t like the heaviness in the air. I wanted him to send the queen a letter and be done with the Sun Nation so I could lock him up in the palace.
When he was finished, he adjusted the sword on his hip before he returned to me.
“Don’t stay away for too long. I might even end up missing you.” I grinned.
He ran his fingers through mine, lifting the back of my hand to his lips with a kiss, and heat rushed through me. “I can only hope.”
He released me, the fondness of his smile cutting into my heart.
“I don’t know how long I will be, but I promise I will return for you both,” he said
“You better. If you take too long, I’ll wage war on the Sun Nation as revenge.”
I loved how widely he smiled. “Then I shall be sure to return within the week. I couldn’t bear to harm either of you.”
“Goodbye, my love,” he said, gracing me with another kiss. I’d really just given my heart to someone in the space of a night. “And goodbye, my princess,” he said, pressing his hand to my stomach, stroking me with his thumb. And the light inside me hopped and danced, responding to her father.
I knew he could feel her presence in me, too. And it helped me relax as I watched him go. His face morphed from the fierce and loving man whose life had changed in an entire night because of my plotting, to the hard look of Carrion, the Commander of the armies of the Sun Nation.
I sat there for hours in his bed, surrounded by his scent as the bright sun continued to rise to the highest point in the sky, until the echoes of horses, clattering, and the shouts of the soldiers faded. And I whispered a prayer that he would come back to us soon.