CHAPTER XXI #7
Keane lowers my hand and turns around to the soldiers waiting for us at the gate, both of who are properly averting their gazes elsewhere until the Prince motions for their attention.
Stormfall pushes off his shoulder and glides high into the deep red and orange sky at the same time, the Bird of Ash bounding through the gate with a caw that tells us he’ll be fine on his own.
“Castle Gaumond,” Keane tells the soldiers, handing one of them both of our reins, “full food and water. Have our packs brought to my quarters.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the soldier bows in acknowledgement and takes a step back, leading the horses up the rising path to the castle.
Keane turns to me from our stance in the middle of the road and holds out his hand again, his gaze catching mine and willing me to move forward with him.
I shakingly reach my own hand out to his, laughing when he leans in and tugs me straight to his side.
I can’t help but smile at his assertiveness and feel him give my hand a tight squeeze, the two of starting our stride down the hill with grins on our faces.
Keane drops my hand in our walk only to slap my ass, his brown eyes turning playful when he sees me jump.
“We’re not done, trouble,” he smirks.
I hold my breath and nod, biting my lip.
“The last time I wanted you fully, Alexis,” he grins, letting his eyes dance over my face, “before I get to have you whenever I want...”
My step faulters next to him.
“Are you ready to hear it? Because it may just be the most important of them all.”
I take a quick step out of his reach, dodging his hand reaching for my ass again. How can anything be more important than what he’s already told me? His words, though sensual, cut deep into my soul every time they fall from his lips.
“Yes,” I breathe, embracing the anticipation.
Keane gives me a playful scowl when I move away from his wandering hand again, the two of us inching closer and closer to the fields and barracks. He watches me from the side, watches as my hair catches in the breeze and flies behind my face.
“The second night of court in Bardot…” he smiles.
“You are a force of your own, Alexis. Never forget that. You entered court that night and commanded not just the room, but everyone around you. You held your head high, not bothering nor caring for the glances and comments that passed at the sight of Stormfall and Golem with you. You stared down the Prince of Livyatan and gave him a cold smile of recognition, again proving your strong equivalent. You spoke to my father not only as his equal but also as his friend, causing everyone around you to look at you in a new and curious light. You embraced your table of mixed Warrior as your own and willed the others around you to do the same. You took on a seasoned table of Discerni men and their wives and approached them with calculating grace, challenging every one of them and their self-assured beliefs…”
My heart is racing, no, pounding. It’s taking everything in me to keep one foot in front of the other, listening to his words.
“If you were mine in that moment, fully, I truly would’ve taken you under the Great Oak and given you the pleasure you so rightly deserved.”
My breath catches in my chest as we walk past the barracks and into the small woods, my body heating beyond belief.
“And when you denied the strongest Prince of Livyatan your time on the veranda, we watched you walk away strong. I watched you walk away in strength…”
Keane stops in his walk and lets his heated gaze hit the side of my face, “and all I could think of when I watched you depart was that I was looking at a Queen.”
My feet completely stop at Keane’s words.
I turn to him slowly, sharply, and nearly stumble from my heavy body trying to understand the true meaning to what he just said. Keane is on me with his Discerni speed, his hands holding my waist tight as he stands in front of me, his full chest and shoulders hovering over mine.
I look up at him, unable to stop the trembles that rock my body from head to toe. My face openly furrows at a thought that has never once graced my mind.
Queen.
Fuck.
No.
No, no, no, no.
That can’t be. It just can’t be.
I try to take a hesitant step away from Keane but his hands keep me held firmly against him. His brown eyes gaze down at mine with a fiery intensity, everything about him willing me to understand the seriousness of the word.
No.
I’m not a royal. I’m not high born.
Shit.
Queen...
What do I know of being a Queen? I hate the politics of everything surrounding the Kingdoms and the way they dictate actions. Keane is out of his damn mind.
“Keane,” I breathe heavily, shaking my head as my arms start to tremble at my sides.
“What did you think would happen here, Alexis?” Keane holds my gaze earnestly now, “that you would be with me for your years, give me children, and that I’d just move on? When I tell you forever, I mean forever. For your life as well as my own.”
Ancients.
This is too much. Way too much.
When we love, we love, Alanna’s words echo deep in the back of my mind.
What did I think would happen after tonight?
I didn’t.
I still haven’t let myself fully comprehend what this meant to me, what this meant to Keane and the two of us. The status of how it all worked completely escaped me. I didn’t think on the how of it, only knew that we would be together in the years to come.
Queen?
I shake my head again and let the anxiety wash over my face.
“I know nothing,” I cry out quietly, “your life, the way you live, and what is asked of you… it is not known to me.”
“It’s truly not so different from yours, Alexis,” Keane smiles down at me softly, “I’m not asking for you to engage in the politics, though I truly believe that you are ready to embrace them.
I know you’ve inquired with Princess Clair for books into the Ancients and the other Kingdoms of the Old World, and I’ve seen you challenge beliefs and the standard way of living with a fire only a few have.
You get heated when you hear of wrong-doings and want to fight, want to see change… ”
Keane lets his hands on my waist hold me tight as he continues, “if you want to stay out of all that, I can understand, though I suspect you won’t.
Your fire is too strong, Alexis, too heavy and pushing to get out.
But if you do choose to dim it, then I only ask that you stand by my side as I remake Disce to that of Warrior, because it is what everyone in this Old World deserves. ”
My heart stops at his words.
This fucking man.
“You know I want that, Keane,” I tell him quietly, feeling the pull towards him and his words that call for change.
Keane’s hands give my hips a squeeze, “then forget the rest. Forget the title and the stigma around it. Let it come as it comes. It’s you and me, Alexis. That’s all that matters.”
I open my mouth to tell him that there’s no way I’ll ever be able to forget the title, but Keane dips his head quickly, capturing my lips on his as he brings his hands roughly up my back.
He takes advantage of my surprise and slips his tongue into my mouth, claiming my unspoken words.
His hands come up to the back of my head as he deepens his kiss, his desire so heavy and heated that I have to surrender, surrender and follow his movements as I bring my own shaking hands up to the back of his hair and pull his head down to me.
Keane groans as his tongue demands mine, our kiss growing in intensity as I move my hips into his. My body is calling to him, knowing that he is the only reassurance I need to get through all the thoughts in my head.
Keane swiftly releases his hands from my hair and rakes them down my shoulders to my lower back, moving past my rear to my thighs as he lifts me off the ground.
I fluidly hook my legs around his hips as our kiss continues, the two of us so hungry and passioned that I already begin moaning against his lips.
I feel Keane start walking beneath me, his lips finally pulling away from mine as he starts to trail kisses against the side of my jaw and down my neck.
I let my body surrender to him again and relax in his hold, tilting my head onto his shoulder as his mouth finds that sensitive spot just under my ear.
Ancients, I could let him hold me forever. There’s no place I’ve been more sure of in life then in his arms.
“Alexis,” Keane groans against my neck as my hands tug at his hair harder, pulling his mouth back against me.
His tongue darts out, tormenting the sensitive skin as his lips draw me to him with a bruising force.
I let my fingers leave his hair and skim them gently down his neck before raking them hard against his back, feeling his muscles flex in reaction.
Keane brings one of his own hands to the back of my head in response, his mouth pulling away from my neck as he slowly stops in his walk.
“No,” I whisper angrily.
“We’re here, Alexis,” Keane answers heavily, capturing my gaze.
I swiftly pull my body away from him and bring my hands to his chest, pushing into him to look behind me. Keane chuckles but doesn’t let me go, instead angling his own body sideways so that the two of us can look at the Shadow Oak together.
“Ancients,” I murmur, taking in the terribly dark tree.
There’s only a little bit of sunlight left on the horizon, only a few rays of deep red and orange that grace the black and purple of the night sky.
The Shadow Oak rests proud and strong under them, moving the color between its sweeping limbs as the black leaves glitter back at us, reflecting the fading sunset.
I sigh at the sight and marvel at the fact that Keane built this.
His hands created this beautiful masterpiece.
I can’t stop the shudder that consumes my whole body.