Chapter Twenty-Five
Serin
Tove was willingly brought to his quarters with an armed escort working for the statuesque, keen-eyed Mendalyn—a woman, it seemed, who helped save Jet when he’d been stuck outside trying to find me.
Another of these women was planted outside of Cass’s door once he was moved to his bed to rest.
“What do you plan to do with him?” I asked Jet as we made our way up to our floor with Mendalyn following silently behind.
“Imprisonment seems the only option, but it will likely take time to get an area in the palace secure enough to contain him. Do you think there are any negative effects to using Stillwater on him until I can get that done?”
“He might not feel well. But he wouldn’t be able to say anything about it.”
“So, that’s what we will do. I’ll have to send someone out to find someone with the skills to be-spell a room from escape. Then we will begin construction.”
“On the room?”
“Yes, but also, other advancements humans have had for a very long time and the palace is lacking.”
“What’s that?”
“Indoor plumbing. Wells, water from a tap. There’s no reason I should need to pull ten people away from their tasks to fill a tub.”
“I have no idea what indoor plumbing is,” I admitted. “But if you’re excited, I’m excited. And the women?”
“Mendalyn and her crew will become the higher-ranking royal guard. I don’t know enough about my father’s closest allies to know if they have my best interest at heart while Cass is ‘unwell.’”
“And Nira and Vishen?”
“Will continue to be our personal guards. If that’s what they wish. Though I have a feeling Vishen and Mendalyn might want to work together to do an overhaul of our military operations.”
“I, for one, would be interested in that, yes,” Mendalyn said as Jet opened our bedroom door.
Knight started to snarl but stopped when he saw us.
“It’s okay,” I said as Cora tensed. “It’s just us. And this is Mendalyn. She helps girls like you.”
Mendalyn stepped into the room, taking in the girls’ bruises and scars, seeming to understand the situation instantly.
“Help how?” Cora asked.
“By teaching you how to defend yourself so no one can ever touch you again. But that’s something for another day, if you want it. Tonight, how about we find you a bed?”
“Nira won’t be using her room tonight,” I said. “She has lots of food in there too. It’s just across the hall.”
“It’s safe?” Cora asked.
“I’ll be in the hallway all night,” Mendalyn assured her.
Cora nodded and fell into step with the older woman, but paused in the doorway to turn back to me. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” I assured her before she was led away. “We should check on Nira.”
“She was resting when I checked in.”
“Just really quick?”
I knew it wasn’t going to be quick. Once we got across the hall, Jet had to explain to an exhausted, worried Vishen everything that had taken place.
I let him handle that as I walked over to Nira, taking her hand in mine as I reached up to touch her head.
I felt a small wave of relief that she wasn’t hot or sweaty.
Her eyes fluttered open, looking at me with hazy eyes. “Hey, you.”
“You held me down.”
“Took two of us. You’re strong.”
She nodded a little at that. “Where is the girl?”
“In your room. I hope that’s alright. She needed a safe space until we get control of things.”
“Cass?”
I shot her a smile. “Incapacitated.”
“Good for you. Tove?”
“Surprisingly, on our side. At least we think. He has a guard outside his door until we figure everything out.”
“How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as it was. And we have a plan on how to settle everything down. Hopefully tomorrow.”
“Queen Serin,” she said, giving me a weak smile. “I want a raise.”
“You got it,” I agreed. “Plus all the beads in the kingdom, if you want them.”
“You’re going to need so many new gowns.”
“I can trust you to make them pretty. You should rest.”
“Rest sounds good.”
“Vishen will be right here with you all night,” I assured her.
Nira’s head turned, seeking the man in question. He seemed to sense her gaze, looking away from Jet and at her instead. Then mouthed, You okay?
She gave him a nod before looking back at me.
“So, how long has that been going on?”
“Nothing is going on.”
“Oh, something is going on. You didn’t see how upset that man was about you being hurt.”
She glanced to him again, a softer look in her eye.
“He’s a good man,” I reminded her.
“I know.”
“And you deserve to be happy,” I added. Before she could object, I stood and released her hand. “Now rest up. We have a kingdom to run now.”
I checked in on Cora, then paused to actually introduce myself to Mendalyn while Jet finished up with Vishen.
“Mendalyn, would it be possible to send for your healer?” he asked when he came out. “I need Vishen sharp and he can’t think of much else but if Nira is going to be all right. I know things are dangerous out there, so I understand if you don’t feel comfortable—”
“We are well-trained for danger. I can take two of the girls off of their posts on the lower floor and send them to fetch her.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Jet said. “If all goes to plan, I would like to have the healer living here anyway.”
“I’ll send word then come right back to my post.”
With that, we waited in the hallway, both lost in our own thoughts, until not only Mendalyn came back, but the girls returned with the healer.
Only then did we feel comfortable finally retiring to our room.
I sipped some of my water and picked at the fruit and half-stale bread in the room, surprised it was possible to be hungry after such a crazy, heavy day.
Jet came back out of the water closet, clean, wearing his low-slung pants.
“Come to bed with me,” he said as he extinguished the light.
I didn’t hesitate to strip out of my outfit and climb in beside him, feeling him wrap an arm around me and pull me in close.
“I thought I lost you today,” he said as his hands drifted over me, like he needed to prove to himself that I was okay. “When I turned and you weren’t there, my heart sank. I fought through dozens of people trying to find you.”
“I tried to find you too. But then I came across Cora. And some man was trying to take her back.”
“The bruises and scars…”
“Yes.”
“She’s a child.”
“Yes.”
A rumble moved through Jet.
“I had to get her safe. So I took her to the palace.”
“That’s what I wanted you to do.”
“But I left you out there…”
“I wanted you to get yourself safe,” he repeated. “I was so relieved to find you safe and unharmed.”
“Me too.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either.”
I slid my leg over him, then my body followed.
Bracing my arms beside his head, I leaned down and pressed my lips to his.
Jet groaned against my lips as his arms tightened around me.
I can’t say how long we stayed just like that—bodies close, kissing long and deep until I swear I could feel it in my bones.
At some point, Jet’s hands started to drift over me—comforting at first, but it wasn’t long before desire started to spread through me.
This kiss grew deeper, more desperate.
My hips rocked until I felt his hard length press against where I needed the friction the most.
Then I was rocking against him, chasing the pleasure as it grew.
Jet’s hand moved between us, pushing down the front of his pants and grabbing his length at the base.
“Take me in,” he demanded, his voice rough.
I didn’t need more encouragement than that.
I rose up and slid down, my moan almost embarrassingly loud as he filled me, as my body tightened around him.
Jet groaned, his hands tightening on my hips.
“You feel so good.” His hips bucked up into me, creating a delicious little pinch. “Ride me,” he demanded.
And so I did, my movements slow at first, full of the relief at being with him again and the admissions that we didn’t want to be parted again.
It wasn’t long before the need took over, making me move faster, harder, as Jet’s hands slid up and down my sides, cupped my breasts, then squeezed, circled, rolled.
“That’s it. Come for me,” he groaned as I tightened around him.
Then I did, the pleasure washing through me in waves, stealing my voice and my breath as I collapsed forward into him.
Jet’s arms slung around me as his hips started to rock up into me—a fast, steady rhythm that had my body climbing again. This time, my cries were muffled against his neck as he relentlessly drove me to that edge, then sent me flying over, crashing down into the pleasure once again.
Before I could even catch my breath, Jet rolled me under him and was moving again. But the movements were once again slow, gentle, sweet.
His lips sealed to mine, kissing me deeply as our bodies moved together, as our breaths and hearts synched.
Something ballooned in my chest so big it ached.
Jet pulled up, looking down at me.
“I love you, Serin,” he murmured, voice rough.
My arms tightened around him.
“I love you too.”
And I did.
In a way I wasn’t sure I even understood before him. In a way that was overwhelming, all-consuming. As real as the love I felt for my lake. Not an external thing, but a part of me. Like Jet had sunk into my bones and blood, like he was a part of me that could never be extracted.
Jet surged deep and pleasure bloomed, taking us both with it.
He pulled me close afterward, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“My king,” I said, feeling a rumble move through him at that title.
“My Lake Girl.”