Chapter 4
Chapter Four
CYPRIEN
The sound of hoofbeats pulled my attention from the ground where I knelt, prostrate, in front of the prince and princess. “Fuck!” I swore softly. The royal guard was heading our way, I lowered my gaze once more and waited, sure that I was destined for the guillotine or gallows.
“Get up from there,” the prince hissed. “You aren’t in any trouble but you might be if you stay on the ground like that.”
I hastened to my feet and dusted myself off. The hoofbeats were almost upon us and I could see the horses and their riders, royal banners in the air, tromping through our hay field. A grimace slipped across my face before I could stop it and I glared at them.
“What is it?” the prince asked softly. I schooled my features into a respectful look, but it was lost on him. “I saw the face you just made. What is the problem?”
“They’re stomping all over our hay.” I murmured, gesturing to the field. “We rely on that for income and to feed our animals. They’re destroying the crop.”
“We’ll make sure that you are compensated for any and all damage done by the guards,” the prince assured. “They’re here for us after all.”
My worries weren’t so easily assuaged.. The royals weren’t typically known for keeping their promises. “If my stepfather sees the field in this state, he’ll be out for blood. I’ll be his first target. Tending the farm is my responsibility.”
The guards finally reached our position at the edge of the orchard.
I went quiet, eyes cast downward, stance that of a subservient man.
Not that it mattered–the guards ignored me completely.
“Your Highnesses,” the guard at the front started, “Your father has been worried sick. We’re here to escort you back to the castle.
We brought extra horses and there is a carriage out on the road. ”
“So sorry to cause you trouble, General. We just went out for a walk and got lost. This young man found us and was just about to take us back to his house so that we could ride home in his stepfather’s carriage.
Please make certain that his family receives recompense for the crop you and your men have trampled over.
” The prince glanced at the horse trod land before returning his attention to the General.
“Of course, Sire,” another guard responded.
He was dressed differently from the rest and looked like he was unfamiliar with horseback riding.
“We’ll see to it that they are paid handsomely for any and all damage we may have caused.
Now, please, you and your sister need to get on your horses so we can get you back. The king was in quite a state.”
The prince turned to me and gave me an appraising look before clapping me on the back. “Thanks for the assistance. The crown is in your debt.” He put his feet together and gave me a formal bow before taking his sister’s hand.
“So sorry for the disturbance,” she said in a soft, sweet voice before being swept away by her brother. He helped her onto her horse, then mounted his own without another glance my way. The General mounted as well, and they rode away, leaving me standing in the orchard, feeling a fool.
ALARIC
We rode back to the castle to the sound of my father’s steward berating us and contemplating all of the punishments my father might come up with.
Lydia and I didn’t dignify his tirade with a response, instead pulling our books out and pretending to read.
There was no point in engaging with him. It would only add fuel to the fire.
Father was waiting for us on the steps when we arrived. His face was red with fury and his fists were clenched at his sides. We could hear him yelling before we even approached.
“You are ungrateful little brats!” he shouted once our feet were on the ground.
“I give you everything and this is how you repay me? Well, we’ll see how much running off you do when you are confined to your rooms.” He continued, his face turning an even deeper shade of red, “Neither of you are to leave your rooms until the ball and are allowed no visitors other than your mother. If you disobey me in this, you’ll be jailed on the spot with banishment to follow. ”
Lydia burst into tears, darting around the king to enter the castle.
He didn’t even look at her as she passed him by, fury-filled eyes trained on me.
I was more angry at my father for that than I was at his newest punishment.
My sister deserved more than that, better than that.
Anger threatened to burn me alive, but my only response was a quiet, “Yes, sir.” My father glared at me, clearly expecting a fight, a satisfaction that I wasn’t going to give him.
Then he threw his hands up in the air and stormed back into the castle, his steward hot on his heels.
Back in my rooms, I paced in irritation.
Despite my current situation, which should have weighed heavily on my mind, I was plagued with thoughts of the man from the orchard.
His green eyes and the gentle curl of his golden hair…
He had a chiseled body built from a life of physical labor, and River, the perfect pout to his bottom lip.
I had never been so fixated so quickly, never been drowning in want of a body I could never touch.
It was torture. The no visitors rule meant I couldn’t try to burn the feeling away with the flesh of another.
No, I was stuck with myself and my thoughts, with my own wicked imagination.
In my mind’s eye, I saw him on my bed, gripping my sheets and writhing in pleasure while I ran my tongue over every inch of his body.
Blood shot south, and I was rock hard. Suddenly, my pants were too tight and everything was too itchy on my heated skin.
Every inch of me ached and burned for release and there was only one way for me to accomplish it.
I tore off my clothes like a crazed beast and threw my boots across the room.
My skin was flushed, an insistent throbbing starting between my thighs.
I sprawled out on my bed, snaking my left hand down my chest and the hard planes of my stomach until it wrapped around my cock.
Squeezing at the base, I gave one slow pull to my cockhead, and I shivered at the friction.
Images of the farm boy flooded my mind. My thumb swiped away the steady stream of precum, massaging it into my shaft as I furiously stroked myself.
The air grew thick and heady, my dick throbbing in my hand, body seeming to beg for a touch that wouldn’t come.
I arched my back, fucking into my fist and squirming on the sheets beneath me.
It only took a few more strokes for my cock to swell and pulse, hot sticky jets of my release splattering to my chest.
My hope was that it would soothe the burning inside of me but it only served to stoke the fire.
I lay there coated in my release, gasping for air, and still craved him like an alcoholic craves their wine.
Shame heated my cheeks but it didn’t dampen the flame that was my want–no, my need.
I needed to feel the farmhand beneath me as I twisted him up in my sheets.
I needed his scent to coat everything I owned, to sink deep within my skin.
Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do in the moment but haphazardly wipe my chest off and attempt to sleep.
Not that I had any hope that sleep would come easily.
My body still blazed for something I couldn’t have, something I wanted more than anything…
I didn’t even know his name and I was obsessed.
Resigning myself to a sleepless night, I sprawled upon the top of my sheets, praying for oblivion to take me.