36. King Lawrence
King Lawrence
To think I’d be facing the lanky, lean young man from the pictures my father had received more than a decade ago had been my first mistake. Sure, I expected Vaughn to look older. To still sport the big curls and perhaps even still have that dark charm about him.
The towering man who faced me last night was not the man I had prepared myself for.
I thought I was big. That I was tall at a good inch over six feet.
Vaughn was taller. Wider. Lean like me but more muscular.
Bigger. He was handsome with shorter hair on the sides, and dark length on the top just long enough to begin to curl.
He dressed as a man who had no worries over money.
He traveled with just as many guards as a king—as me.
The gold watch he wore.
The expensive leather dress shoes.
The family signet ring.
The plane in Scotland.
This wasn’t just a man who had resources and connections. People thought of him as royalty and even called him The Unavowed. And those close to him even referred to Penelope as his future Queen of The Order—his Intended…
And of course, the place in question… The Order, itself. It was owned by The Council but ran by… him?
Trials.
Sacrifices.
Auctions?
Yes… money for The Council. Access for… elites?
Everything I was learning was all too much to take in or even process.
I’d been barely twenty when my father told me the uncle and Masterson heir were dead.
I’d put them completely out of my mind after that.
But I had so much to learn, and I had to get ahead of this because after Vaughn’s look last night when he left…
This man was not a friend. He was a threat, and he made sure I knew it.
Those eyes…
I could still see the hate shining through them.
I’d left the office after a good two hours of talking with George, who I’d sent back to try to get more information on The Order. I stopped as I watched all the guards move in. Vaughn stepped off the stairs and looked right at me as I left the hall to head to go up to my own room.
No words.
No smile.
Just the lid-lowering, hate-filled glare. As if he’d love nothing more than to make me suffer and cover himself in my blood.
Hate.
Hate.
Well… I hated him too. He had the woman I wanted. The one I’d found first. So, I’d returned his look with one of my own. But what good was it other than us being completely honest with where we stood?
I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what to think. What I did know was I was forbidden to kill him, and The Order was off-limits to me. Where that left me, I didn’t know, because I wasn’t letting this go. I would not lose Penelope to this… man. To this evil, treasonous traitor.
Yes, that’s what he was.
So what if my family had stolen the Crown all those centuries ago.
It was mine now, and I’d be damned if I was going to let Vaughn gain traction with my followers.
I was king, and I’d stay the king. And while I was at it, I’d take his queen.
After all, I had found her first. I hadn’t taken her like he had. But… could I now?
It was a risk. Maybe a last resort.
“Lawrence?” My eyes jumped up to Penelope, who was now sitting directly next to me. I blinked back the surprise, sitting up straighter. “You are so deep in thought today. I don’t even think you heard me come in.”
“I didn’t. I apologize.” My head shook. “Were you saying something?”
She laughed. Genuine. Full of happiness. It instantly soured my mood. Not because she was happy, but because I knew why. Him. Damn Vaughn for disrupting our time together.
“I was telling you how excited I was for today. This program, these gorgeous horses. Oh, Lawrence, what you’ve done at Rosemoor.” Her head shook in awe. “You have a true gift. You really do. What will you teach me today?”
Not what I wanted to teach her. But I could begin the process…
“I’m afraid it’ll be rather boring. Numbers. Estate stuff. We still have a little time. Eat and I’ll take you on a little tour. I want to show you something.”
“Yeah?”
A plate was placed down before her, and I mindlessly ate, scanning her face so I could take in her beauty.
And she was still talking. Still going on about something.
I heard nothing. All I saw was her lips moving.
The way her blue eyes were so vibrant through her enthusiasm.
I followed the curve of her jaw down to her neck, soaking in the pale skin of her throat.
But even that I didn’t see for long, because I was suddenly slamming my cock into her, squeezing around her neck as I covered her nose and mouth with my other hand through my brutality.
“You’re doing it again.” She laughed. “You’re looking right at me, but you’re hearing nothing I say. Whatever is on your mind?”
My lips parted and I laughed with her, looking down. When I looked back up, my gaze lingered on her lips, lifting up to meet her eyes.
“It’s you.” I gestured to her empty plate, standing and watching as she joined me.
“Me? But I was talking to you. You weren’t seeing me.”
“Oh… I was.” I held out my arm, and she headed over, taking it. “We just weren’t here.”
“If not here, where?”
“I’ll show you.”
Leading her out of the dining room, I turned us deeper into the house. The hallway was empty as we headed down. When I turned us left, into an adjoining hallway, Penelope’s brow drew in.
“I may get lost in this house.”
“You’ll get used to it.” I stopped in the middle, leaning against a wall. Penelope slowed, turning to face me. My hand lifted, pointing to an old sconce. “I want to tell you a story. A very important one that links my family and yours.”
“Alright.”
I reached up, pulling the sconce. A panel holding a large portrait swung open, and Penelope gasped, jumping back. Big eyes shot to me, and I smiled as she hesitantly walked closer, peaking inside to the staircase that led down.
“When my family rose to power back in eighteen hundred, there wasn’t many families we could trust. Most said they supported our rule, but what they supported was themselves.
It didn’t take my family long to discover how power worked.
So, we gave orders—a proof of loyalty, so to speak.
When it came to your family, their orders were special. This.”
I gestured, easing my hand to Penelope’s lower back as I nudged her forward to the stairs. Fear sparked in her eyes but eased as I flipped on the light and shut the panel behind us.
“Not everyone complied or passed the loyalty test. And when they didn’t, this was where they came. This was the Crown’s stronghold for royalist prisoners.”
Penelope eased to the bottom of the stairs, slowly taking steps forward as she took in the multiple shackles. Some were bolted into the wall while others hung from the ceiling. Six cells aligned the back wall, disappearing into darkness.
“My family made this space for yours?”
“To show their loyalty.”
I came up behind her, placing my hands around her biceps, causing her to jump. Deep breaths had the sides of her breasts sliding against my fingertips as I splayed them out, around her.
“It’s very interesting, isn’t it?”
Her head nodded. “Y-Yes. It is. I would have never known this was down here.”
My hand slid down one of her arms, and I lifted it, moving her arm toward the hanging cuff. Easily, I wrapped my fingers around her small wrist. My pulse was hitting against me so hard that I was shaking. I could see her—feel my cane tearing into her skin.
“I still have your family’s loyalty, don’t I?”
Deep breaths left her. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“I know I do, but I think I’d like to hear you say it.
” I paused. “I hear they have rooms like this in The Order. I have to admit I’m truly fascinated by the sound of this place.
” I squeezed around her wrist tighter, stepping more into her body so that mine was molded around the back of hers.
Lowering our hands, I drew it in so that my arm was wrapped around her waist. “Have you seen something like that there? A dungeon or room with cuffs and cells? I’m a bit sad it’s forbidden for me to go.
They talk of auctions. Is it people they auction?
I’m told it is. To buy a person… Whatever would someone want to do with them? ”
“I… I’m not allowed to go into too many places down there.
They don’t talk to me about such things.
” Penelope eased out of my hold, and I let her.
She turned back to face me as she put distance between us.
“Why does the sound of it all fascinate you so much anyway? Do you like the idea of buying a person?”
The side of my lips pulled back. “It’s not the actual buying. I don’t have to do that now if I want something.”
“Even death?”
My lips parted, and I couldn’t stop the overwhelming arousal that ignited inside of me.
“They go that far there?” My eyes lowered through the surprise. “Of course they go that far,” I mumbled.
“I didn’t say they did. I’m curious if you would. Can you do that now, at your palace. You must… have an underground room too, right? I mean.” She took a step towards me, a mask either sliding on or away from her. “Some of the best things happen in rooms no one knows about. Secrets. Darkness.”
Silence played between us, but I found myself moving in closer to her.
“I have a place. What I do, or don’t do, or can do… is up to me. Nothing is off limits.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes on me as she began to circle around wide. My brow creased, and the lust heightened. This Penelope wasn’t the one she let everyone see, but I was instantly captivated by it.
“No limits… Interesting. I know King Lawrence, but I don’t think I’ve met the real you yet.
” Her gaze looked me up and down, coming back to my face.
She grabbed a cuff, tilting her head. “I wonder about this darker you. The one who hints to like… chains and… blood… and death? Or maybe I’m completely wrong. ”
Light flooded in from above, and I growled as I tore my gaze from her. Boots pounded down the stairs, and I pinned my guards with a look that threatened exactly what me and Penelope were talking about.
“Get. Out.”
My command had them jolting to a stop. Penelope laughed under her breath.
“I believe in signs. We should go, Your Majesty. There’s so much to do.”
Penelope threw me a look that had an inferno pouring from my body. It took all I had not to lunge forward and rip her back to me. I’d put her in those cuffs and fuck her raw and bloody. She’d beg me to stop. She’d—”
“Come, Your Majesty.”
The order drew me forward, and I clenched my jaw through the seductive tone.
What the hell had just happened? No… Who the hell had I just witnessed?
Penelope wasn’t Penelope. At least not one I had met yet. I kept getting flashes of this strong woman who made my head spin. She was gone so fast, it left me questioning whether she was there at all.
Well, there was no doubt anymore. I wouldn’t forget this darker version I’d been introduced to. And soon, Penelope wouldn’t have the ability to run if I didn’t want her to.
She wanted to play with fire?
She wanted to tease and test the rules?
I’d play… and then… I’d win.