Chapter Two #2
He remained on the King’s lap and leaned back as he shrugged off his shirt. “How about the Winter’s Edge wine? Hmm? That'll hide the taste.”
“Yes, yes. Get me a glass of that.” Lumi climbed off, and the King snapped his fingers. “Take off the rest of your clothes. You’ll stay naked until you go.”
Lumi casually headed for the bedroom as he pretended to further loosen his trouser ties.
The hardened dot in the hidden pocket was so tiny, he was afraid he’d drop it.
It had taken ages to get truth resin, and he’d only received it last week.
Prince Jaki wasn’t the only one capable of getting his hands on such a thing.
If things weren’t serious, it’d be hilarious if they’d gotten the serum from the same provider.
It had cost a good deal of his saved wages.
He palmed it and let his trousers drop before he stepped out of them.
His drawers had a wet spot thanks to the slick his heat produced.
In the bedroom, he found the little vial of tabs in the bedside drawer and returned to the sitting room.
At the sideboard, he poured the wine and pretended to add a tab.
The tiny ball disappeared into the liquid instead. After a few seconds, it would dissolve from the moisture, and the bitterness would be lost in the sweet, minty wine. Lumi used a gold stirring stick.
“Make sure you put away the vial,” warned King Elswere.
Like the court didn’t already gossip about his dick troubles.
Lumi was his pleasure slave, but it didn’t mean the King’s cock hadn’t ended up in anyone else’s orifices in the past three years.
One of the older servants had blabbed about how he'd kept going soft while trying to fuck her and how disappointed she'd been.
Lumi hid the vial again and returned to King Elswere with the goblet. Lumi was sure the King’s face turned a whole shade of darker red as he slammed it back. Considering Lumi had kept his cup topped at dinner, it was a wonder the King could still tell up from down.
"That is good,” he murmured before setting the goblet on his side table so he could grope Lumi’s thigh.
The strong mint was barely an improvement to his booze breath. Lumi smiled as he lounged on his lap. If the King couldn’t handle truth serum, he was in trouble.
King Elswere grasped Lumi’s erect cock. “You’re always ready and such a good boy.”
Lumi’s ass grew wetter at the slow strokes, and he nuzzled the King’s neck. Elira, it was hard to stay still and focus with the heat on him. “I’m always ready for you. I’d be ready for your son too, but he never touches me.”
“Eh, so? You’ve got my cock plus anyone else in the court who wants you.”
“I’d like to sample what you created with yours. Considering he came from your loins, he must be well-endowed too.”
Lumi had taken bigger dicks. The King looked pleased at the compliment although something in his eyes darkened, and it wasn’t all from wine. Since he hadn’t collapsed like Lumi, it had worked.
“Then again, maybe it’s not so big," said Lumi. "He never fucks me, so I wouldn’t know. In some ways, he’s so different from you. I mean, he’s your son, right? It’s amazing how different a person can be from their Father.”
“I’m not his real Father,” King Elswere murmured.
Lumi had him. “He looks like you. How could he not be your son?”
“He’s my half-nephew and King Reesing’s bastard from a servant.
I got to adopt him so Reesing wasn’t shamed by his infidelity.
He never told his wife, and while her sight was bad, if anyone ever noticed the servant’s boy and said something.
..Aisi would have been heartbroken if she knew he’d strayed. ”
“So you took Jaki in?”
The King nodded. “My wife was a recluse at the time, so it was easy to pretend it was her baby. Nobody knew she hadn't been pregnant a second time. Jaki brought her back to life.” The King couldn’t focus on Lumi’s eyes anymore.
“I’m a bastard too. A bastard raising a bastard.
You’d think after our Mother cheated and had me thanks to another man, Reesing would have known to keep his dick tucked away. ”
“A quick fuck can lead to permanent results.”
“When King Wegen ruled, he spoke so highly of his wife and Queen. He praised her for her looks, her wit, and the beautiful son she’d given him.
He said a faithful wife was worth ten loyal men.
He didn't dare admit it when she later spread her legs for someone else, and that’s where I came from.
He had to pretend I was Reesing’s full brother. ”
And because Elswere was royalty, but came from a different male line, he wasn’t supposed to be on the throne.
“Since Reesing got a boy bastard from a servant, Jaki has true Cleel blood unlike me. Reesing didn’t want anyone to see him and get suspicious, so Preti and I took Jaki.
" King Elswere looked down. "Our actual son before only lived for a few hours after his birth. I thought Preti would die of a broken heart afterward.”
“The Tree is dying,” Lumi stated in a blunt tone.
“Of course, it’s dying,” said King Elswere. “I know that. The blood has to go through the Father, not the Mother. Truly, the throne should be Jaki's now. He’s the only real heir left.”
Lumi kept his expression neutral, although the King would hardly care anymore.
In the embrace of the wine and serum, not much would alarm him except for his personal guilt.
Lumi had suspected Prince Jaki wasn’t his real son, and he’d already known the King didn’t have Cleel blood, but he’d wanted to make doubly sure with no shadow of a doubt. Everything he’d suspected was true.
No one could willingly lie on truth serum, and their only hope to keep info hidden was to remain silent. Fortunately, wine made people talkative, and it wasn’t like Elswere suspected anything.
Lumi also knew Reesing and Elswere had fought years and years before the war. It had been so bad, they’d stopped speaking to each other.
King Elswere frowned. “King Tivar has the Crown. I’d hand the throne over to Jaki now…but…”
“But what?” prodded Lumi.
“He’s the only rightful heir left. The soil and the Tree might grow healthy again if he’s ruling East Iceland, but he doesn’t have the Crown, so it still won't save Iceland overall. If the Tree comes back, everyone will know I’m a fraud with no true blood with the male line.
They’ll know I lied and claimed this bit when I’m not supposed to have anything.
I should have coronated Jaki and simply done the work while he grew up. ”
“Why didn’t you?"
“Some friends broke me out of prison because they thought I was truly a Cleel. What if they left me there? They wouldn't have believed Jaki should be the next heir either if I had said I was raising Reesing’s son. I had to get out, and then, I had to keep up the lie to get a hold of East Iceland.”
“Makes sense.”
"Even with Jaki on the throne, I don’t know if the Tree will be fine because he doesn’t have the Crown.”
“I get it.”
The lands would definitely die if the Kingdom split.
It was supposed to stay as one under a single ruler from the Cleel line.
Info on the Tree was a bit hazy since it had later been a gift from Elira to celebrate the first heir to be born.
According to stories, she’d said someone of the true blood needed to own it or it would grow sick. It hadn’t come with the Crown.
“Jaki should have the Crown and all of Iceland, but I also don’t want him to risk his life in war,” said the King.
“I love him like my son. If he went against Tivar and died, it would be the true and final death of both sides of Iceland. It would never come back, and I'd be truly alone. I’ve told him he should work on an heir, but he keeps holding off. Even if he had an heir, I don’t want to lose him too. ”
“Of course not,” said Lumi. “Tell me why Reesing risked our country to take East Forest Kingdom.”
King Elswere sighed. “His first son was stillborn, and he took a beggar woman’s baby.
The real Tivar died. You’d think that baby was sent by Elira herself as a miracle since Tivar passed as their child.
Edur was born after, and Reesing knew Tivar couldn’t take the throne with no male, Cleel blood.
He still couldn’t admit the truth, and he knew the lands would die, so he decided to take East Forest. It’s a rich Kingdom, and with the resources and farms under his control, we could have made it later on. ”
Plenty of people thought Tivar was the true King and had no idea of the truth. Others had thrown their lot in with Elswere.
Elira hadn't wanted the Iceland rulers to go to war with other Kingdoms. Supposedly, it would kill Iceland too, but that was another thing everyone wasn't fully sure of. Some said the King could, but Elira had simply preferred the Iceland rulers to remain peaceful. Others said it would definitely cause Iceland to die. The Kingdom had split, so they still couldn’t agree.
Reesing must have intended to say Iceland’s decline was his fault for taking more land. With the resources of East Forest at hand, the country wouldn't have suffered so much.
“And Edur?” asked Lumi.
“He’s dead. Everyone knows that. Poor thing. He didn’t deserve to die so young.”
“Aisi never knew the truth?”
“No. She passed out from blood loss and had no idea her first, real son was born dead.”
“So Reesing planned to take the secret to his grave?”
King Elswere’s eyes had grown heavier. “I’m not sure. After that long, I think he did. The more time passed, the harder it seemed for him to admit the truth. I tried to make him come clean, and that's why we fought.”
Lumi had wondered about that because at first, the war seemed to be to acquire more land even though it wasn’t truly needed.
If he had simply put Tivar on the throne, the Kingdom would have noticed if the lands were dying, and there could only be one reason.
The Queen would have then known the truth.