Chapter 35 #3
Xavier leaned back in his chair, like he seemed to enjoy his prince’s title more than he’d admit, and grinned. “Please bring us tea and every slice of cake your bakery has to offer. My wife would like to try them all,” he recited quickly.
“Yes, my prince,” she answered, smiling, and ran back inside the bakery.
“Was that necessary?” I asked him.
“If you have any problems with people calling you my wife, then yes, it was indeed very much necessary.”
“It’s not that… I just thought you could have told her that the waiter did nothing wrong.”
Xavier didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he tilted his head, studying me like he was trying to see the emotions beneath my skin.
“Would you marry me then, someday?” His question surprised me. His gaze was on the verge of turning red.
Would I?
“Maybe,” I said truthfully. “I mean, not yet, there is too much going on right now with the kingdoms and I want to make sure we are all safe before we do so.” And somehow, I was afraid to speak it out loud.
The doubts didn’t leave my lips. But how long would we have left, before someone else would decide to pull our world apart?
“But you already have me, Xavier,” I said. “Ring or not.”
He chuckled and stroked my hand in soft circles.
“What kind of wedding do you have in mind?” he asked. His newfound curiosity about such things made me smile.
“Well… at first I want three different weddings,” I stated jokingly. Although the vivid imagination of marrying each of them in one unison also became alluring.
“Three?” he asked, grinning and gripping my hand even tighter.
“Then a honeymoon with all of us together, maybe to a place with snow.”
I thought when I was younger, I was one of the very few people that loved snow, ice and rain.
The winters in my hometown were the best so far, the streets were decorated with twinkling lights and Christmas markets.
And somehow, the Christmas spirit within me made the Christmas I had spent with my mother feel less lonely.
“What is this?” Xavier brought me out of a haze.
“A honeymoon?”
He nodded.
“It is a vacation after the wedding, people use it to spend all their time alone before they have children.”
“Children?”
Oh, I should not have mentioned that.
“Children... Do you want children?” Xavier asked.
“Here, my prince,” the waitress said, and I was never more thankful for someone else interrupting a conversation. As she set down a huge tray of drinks and cakes, Xavier’s gaze followed me.
“Thank you,” he whispered, his gaze drifting toward me, before wandering to the woman. “Your waiter Ben… it was only…”
“Oh, we fired him, there is no excuse for flirting with the woman of a prince,” she stated, like she had truly done the right thing.
“There’s possibly been a misunderstanding. My wife wants him to get his job back and that’s what you are going to do. Make sure his salary will be fifty coins higher per month. My advisor will check it in a week.”
“Okay, my prince. If you wish.”
Why was it so hot when Xavier made demands?
I nipped at my water and picked up my fork.
“What do we try first?” I was amused.
“What about you take a bite with your sweet lips first, and I taste the flavor from your lips afterward,” he suggested.
I grinned at his words and took a slice of the green cake; it had sugared lemons on it and its filling was green-black, making me wonder how it tasted.
The cake was fluffy, and the dough melted in my mouth, I unintentionally gave a slight moan, it tasted so good.
“I had no idea you were so easy to please.” Xavier’s voice was amused but demanding. “Now, give me your lips.”
“Mint chocolate, an interesting flavor for a cake,” he remarked and nipped at the tea.
“You should try it for yourself,” I suggested and took his fork to take a bite of the cake.
“Here.” I held out the fork for him; he grabbed my hand and led it to his mouth to eat from it.
“Tasted way better from your lips,” he stated and his grip on my thigh intensified.
“You are insatiable, Xavier.”
“Can you blame me? Damien just reserved the night.”
I laughed and shook my head at his stubbornness.
“I mean… you all don’t really seem to want to share me,” I said and took a bite of the purple cake, which tasted like frosted blueberries mixed with lemons, definitely not my favorite.
“If you want a bed big enough for us all, then I’m going to make sure you get it.”
“This bed needs to be extra-large, no way you can buy a bed big enough for us four and Malakai’s wings, so make it five.”
I laughed, Malakai’s wings were huge, and whenever I slept beside them, he used them to tuck me in. I’m not sure if Damien and Xavier would be so happy with that.
“Would you do it for me?”
Xavier looked at me with intense eyes that didn’t show any specific emotion—at least none I could decipher.
“Yes.” His answer kind of surprised me, as he never really made a secret of hating to share me. Especially the nights when I wasn’t sleeping in his bed.
“I’ve actually been thinking,” Xavier said, brushing his thumb over the back of my hand, “it’s time you have your own bedroom.”
I blinked, surprised at this suggestion. “Really?”
“Yes,” he replied, his voice so warm compared to his previous behavior toward Ben.
“A space that reflects you, your aesthetics, your taste. And, of course, a bed big enough for all of us… if this is what you want. I’ll make it happen.
And maybe then you’ll stop trying to sleep in that tiny portal hidden in my wardrobe. ”
A grin tugged at my lips. He loved teasing me about that night I curled up in the portal. It was during one of the nights Malakai felt far enough away to shatter me.
“It only happened once,” I said. “And you know I love it there.”
“I know,” he said with a soft chuckle, stroking over my cheek. “But you act like it’s the only place heaven exists.”
“And where else would it be?”
His eyes flared with that infuriating mix of wickedness and affection. “Oh, so many places my little demon. Especially the one between your legs…” he murmured, “which I fear is going to be Damien’s territory tonight.”
“Xavier!” I gasped, laughing at his childish jealousy.
He caught my face between his hands, pressing soft kisses on my skin. The taste of peppermint chocolate lingered on his lips, and damn it, he was right, it did taste better on him as well.
“I could listen to your sweet voice forever,” he murmured against my mouth, kissing me again, deeper this time, like we weren’t in the middle of a coffee shop surrounded by curious goblins.
I loved all of my men deeply, but just being here together with Xavier made me realize how vulnerable he really was. He might spank me on some occasions, but overall, he was a little teddy bear and loved to mollycoddle me all the time.
“What do you think about, my love?” Xavier interrupted my thoughts.
“Nothing.”
“Really? I didn’t know thoughts could smell so sweet,” he said and heat rose up my face. No way, he could smell my arousal. We were still in a public coffee shop.
“I was just thinking about how each of you love me so differently… and how you seem to open up here.”
“Is it good that I do?” he asked, like he wasn’t sure how to respond to such a compliment.
“Yes, all of your individual ways of loving me make me feel whole. That’s what I yearned for my entire life.”
“God, I can’t accept that it’s Damien’s night tonight, how will I survive?” he said, his tone whiny. His childish complaint made me smile, especially since it must have been the third time he mentioned Damien having me tonight.
“I guess you need to make this big bedroom happen very quickly,” I suggested.
“You are right.”
“Gwendolyn,” someone yelled out of nowhere, causing me to look around until I found a small group of little people. Tualy, Elvina, Fayette and Pip were standing there.
“Hey Gwendolyn, what are you doing here?” she asked, buzzing with excitement as her little arms embraced me in a hug.
“I was running some errands… and you?”
“We love the market hall, it’s fun and we barely leave our village, we need some diversion,” Pip replied.
“Who is this?” Fayette asked and pointed over to Xavier who looked like an entire mismatch with his dark clothes surrounded by these bubbly faeries.
“I’m her mate.” Xavier smirked, shaking their little hands.
“I see… your mate.” Her eyes widening in bubbly happiness. “Isn’t it nice that the forest deities helped you to find your way back home?”
Xavier’s gaze was filled with pure gratification.
“I really like your little friends,” he whispered against my skin, kissing my hand softly.
“You two are so cute,” Tualy commented, making me blush. It was so strange seeing Xavier loosen up in public, especially surrounded by the one magical creature so different from his kind.
“Now, Tualy… think of it, if we don’t leave now, it will be too dark later,” Pip said, his arms suddenly full with a tray of cupcakes.
“Sure.” Her question was forgotten.
“Goodbye,” I said again, embracing each one of them in my arms. Their little wings fluttered against my skin.
“Can I hug Xavier too?” Fayette asked, her tone almost shy now.
“Yes,” he replied, crouching down to hug her. Seeing him hugging her made me feel so warm.
Before they left, each one of them gave me a little smile.
“God, faeries seem stressful,” Xavier commented.
“Don’t be mean, they are so sweet, just like children.” How dumb of me to even mention the word again.
“Oh, yes. That’s what I asked you earlier. Do you want children?”
“I love you,” I said, gripping his arms, trying to distract him.
“I love you too, my love, more than any other person I will ever love. Still not really the answer to my question. What about children?” he asked again.
“I mean, I’m sorry, obviously, we can’t have children, just forget it… I meant…” I started to stutter like I was in first grade introducing myself.
“You’ll get everything you want, if you want children, then I will find a way for it to happen.”
I didn’t have any idea that Xavier would be so selfless when it came to my wishes for the future, especially regarding the current situation of his realm. I would have expected an immediate rejection.
“Maybe… sometime. If you can share my love,” I replied, teasing.
“No to sharing your love. You are my life, Gwendolyn. Without your love, children won’t ever be on my mind and certainly my love for you cannot be shared. But I would be willing to extend my ability of love for your children.”
“Why my children? They would be yours too.”
“Because it doesn’t matter who you decide will be the father. I will love and spoil them regardless, whether they carry my DNA or not. As long as they are a part of you, that is all what matters. I also would prefer to not pass on my evil genetics.”
I smiled and took him into my arms, pressing my face against his chest.
“You don’t have evil genetics, Xavier. The faeries wouldn’t have liked you if you did,” I replied, cradling his beautiful face in my hands. “And you should really pass on your DNA, with your looks.” He grinned at my remark, before his lips captured mine.
I never would have dreamed of finding a place so far away from everything I’d known, a place that only existed in books, to call my home.
Meeting the faeries again just reminded me that indeed the forest deities brought me there, where I belonged.
I belonged to Xavier, Malakai and Damien, and they belonged to me.
My mother pitied me for putting my faith in childhood fairytales; little did she know that I would end up in one of them.