Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Emilie
Renoa was a sight for sore eyes. I could’ve fallen to my knees and kissed the ground outside the castle gardens if my legs weren’t so stiff. I just had to make it up one more set of stairs…
“Oh, gods,” Sophia shouted from ahead. She ran out of the castle doors, straight for us, her skirts flowing wildly behind her. Her arms were outstretched as if she were ready to catch us all in a large group hug.
Which is exactly what she did. First her sons, and then me and Jade. She cried tears of joy and behaved like her usual theatrical self, but I was so happy to see her that I cried too.
She stood back for a moment, her hands covering her mouth, eyes wide and unblinking. “Did… did you succeed?”
Ladon’s lips curved upward. “Yes.”
Sophia burst into another round of tears, using her sleeve to wipe them up. I didn’t even think she’d been drinking; she was just that happy to have her family back.
“Sophia,” I said softly. The urge to comfort her was overwhelming.
Her glistening eyes met mine, and her tears faded. “Welcome home,” she said, embracing me a second time. I barely caught a breath before she was squeezing me and grabbing me by the shoulders.
I tried not to flinch too much—my arms were still blistered, though they were fading quickly—but of course she caught it. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Better than fine, actually.”
She watched me for a moment before deciding I was telling the truth. “It’s so good to have you back. And my boys.”
She released me so she could hold them again, and I laughed at the faces they made. Their mother was prone to excessive worrying, but after everything her sons had been through, perhaps it wasn’t excessive at all.
Ladon softened and squeezed her back while Cyrus did his best to break free.
“You two are not allowed to leave me again for at least fifty years.”
I laughed. There was no way she could keep them locked away, but she would try her damnedest.
“And you, darling,” she said, wrapping Jade up in her arms again.
Revulsion was written all over Jade’s face, but she didn’t dare tell Sophia to let go.
Even she understood that Sophia was the true leader of Osavian.
As Cyrus’s mother, she held just as much power as he did, if not more.
Her words influenced him, and Jade would be an idiot to cross her.
“You’re all skin and bones. Let’s get some food in you. Are you hungry? Have you eaten?”
“You don’t have to do that, Mother,” Cyrus said, his face sagging.
I wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue from traveling or the sadness from the betrayal finally catching up with him.
I knew he and Ladon had had a conversation before we landed in Sage Harbor, but Ladon had made it clear that Cyrus wasn’t ready to move on just yet.
He was still holding on to his anger and disappointment, and it showed.
Sophia must’ve noticed something similar because she quirked her head to the side, and her eyes narrowed as she assessed her eldest. “Something is wrong.”
No one spoke, because none of us wanted to be the one to bring up the situation at hand. Sophia already knew about Ladon and me, but revealing that now would be tricky. Cyrus would find out he was the last to know, and I couldn’t imagine that would improve his mood.
She looked back and forth between her sons, and when Ladon looked at me, it finally clicked for Sophia. All she had to do was give me one quick glance, and she understood. “Oh.”
That one word was Cyrus’s unraveling. He shook his head in disbelief. “You knew?”
Sophia swallowed, her eyes falling to the ground. “I did.”
“And you didn’t tell me either.”
Her sympathetic tone turned to one of parental scolding. “It wasn’t my place. And I was a little busy praying to the gods that you would wake up, only to say goodbye when the lot of you left me once again.”
Cyrus scoffed, and Sophia’s eyes narrowed into slits.
Before she could further berate him, Jade suddenly moved aside, grabbing her bag. “This isn’t a conversation that I need to be part of. Thank you for the dinner offer, Sophia, but I will pass this evening.”
Ladon placed a hand on my back. “Emilie, you should go too. Get some rest or catch up with Selene. I’ll find you before it’s time to eat.”
As much as I wanted to see Selene, I didn’t think I could do anything at all until I slept. I began to walk away, but Cyrus snapped, “You should go with her. I don’t have anything else to say to you.”
“Cyrus!” Sophia reprimanded. “Don’t talk to your brother like that.”
“It’s fine, Mother,” Ladon said. “He can take all the time he needs.”
“Taking the time to process everything doesn’t mean he can treat you that way. Go on. I have a few more words to say to your brother.”
Ladon looked as though he’d rather stay to defend Cyrus, but when Cyrus refused to acknowledge him, he conceded. He turned to me and said dully, “Let’s go.”
We walked in near silence as he led the way back to my room. Once we arrived, I stood in the doorway. “I don’t think I can stay here.”
“What do you mean?” Ladon asked, nudging me aside to look into the room. There was nothing wrong that he could see, and he turned to me with confusion. “You don’t want to stay in Renoa?”
“No,” I said quickly. “It’s not that. It’s just…
Cyrus’s room is right across the hall. And this bedroom was given to me when it was assumed I would be his wife.
It feels wrong to stay here now. Not to mention I don’t want to run into him unexpectedly.
At least not for some time while he sorts through his feelings. ”
Ladon sucked in a breath through his teeth and thrummed his fingers on the doorframe. “I see. There’s an empty bedroom on my side of the living quarters. I’d be more than happy to run into you unexpectedly.”
He smirked, and I couldn’t resist his charm. It wasn’t like I was in any position to turn him down. Where else would I go without a job or a coin to my name? Another aspect of my life that I’d need to figure out, now that my life was my own.
“Sounds good to me,” I told him. I looked around the room, deflating at the idea of packing everything up and moving it to the other side of the castle. “What if I stay in your room tonight?”
It wouldn’t be the first time. We’d spent most of our nights together even while we were supposed to be keeping things platonic, although those times had been because I needed him to comfort me and help me feel safe.
Now I only wanted to feel him next to me.
To see the way his face relaxed when he was fast asleep.
“You want to stay the night with me while we are unwed? Scandalous, Emilie.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is that a yes?”
He chuckled. “Of course.”
I snaked an arm around his waist and buried my face in his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. “I’m so glad to be home.”
“Me too, princess. Me too.”
We slept straight through dinner and well into the following morning. Ladon’s drapes were pulled closed, so I had no idea what time it was when I opened my eyes. His arm was wrapped tightly around my waist, and I had no desire to move, but my bladder begged me otherwise.
Gently moving his arm, I slipped out of bed and entered his bathroom.
A few of my things were already moved—my toothbrush and toothpaste, a comb, and some lotion.
A smile crossed my lips, thinking about how I’d already staked my claim.
Did I even want to have my own room? Would it really be that obscene if we lived together?
Probably. He wasn’t a king, but he was still a prince. We’d have to get used to sneaking into each other’s rooms for the foreseeable future. It wouldn’t be so bad, though. There was a thrill that came with doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing, and I hoped that excitement never faded.
I freshened up and returned to bed, where Ladon was still snoozing peacefully. He was shirtless, and I could see that his burns were healing nicely. They likely wouldn’t scar, thank the gods. We had enough of those already.
My eyes fell to the vines that scarred my wrists and the matching ones on his.
Some days, I forgot they were there. Other days, they reminded me of my unbreakable connection to Ladon.
In the immediate aftermath of our escape, they’d felt like an eternal curse, but I hadn’t felt that way recently. Not since Reyna died.
Since I’d killed her.
I smiled and took a deep breath.
“What are you thinking about?”
I startled and glanced over at Ladon.
He moved closer, his hand slipping beneath the blanket and finding its way to my thigh. The satin nightgown I wore slid up to my hip.
“Did I wake you?”
His voice was muffled as he spoke half into the pillow and half into my hair. “No.”
“Mm-hmm,” I murmured, unconvinced. I nestled into his warm chest. Heat radiated from his body, and I took a moment to kiss his collarbone.
Ladon’s legs tangled with mine, one of them shifting higher until his thigh was pressed to my naked core. He moaned when he found my hot, slick skin and not a pair of panties.
“Fuck,” he groaned, twisting so he could see my face properly. He felt his way up my thigh and around to my ass, squeezing until I gasped. “Do you know what you fucking do to me?”
I smirked and bit my lip. “No. Do you think you could tell me?”
His hips pressed against mine, and I could feel his hard cock pressing against my pussy through his briefs. I whimpered as his shaft slid along my cunt until he reached my clit. His cock strained against his underwear, and I was all too happy to release it.
Ladon leaned forward to kiss me, pulling my bottom lip between his teeth. His chest rumbled with pleasure as my hand glided over his stomach and into his briefs, carefully fondling his balls.
Passion and need built in my belly, and I sucked on his lip, grabbing his other hand and moving it to my chest. He massaged my breast over top of my gown, my nipples visible through the thin fabric.