Chapter 61
Emmerick
The warm sheets tempted me to stay; the gorgeous nude woman with her arm draped over my chest, napping, melted away any aversion I’d previously had to beds. I could stay in this one all day.
Nothing that any Source Origin—Death included—could throw at me would keep me from coming back to her doorstep.
Before falling asleep, I’d told Elsedora the plan. Lark and Dritan had agreed to meet me in Helos around noon.
When I kissed El’s palm to wake her, ready to drag myself from our comfortable entanglement, her nose wrinkled in disagreement. “You plan to leave me already?” she asked; a faux pout nearly broke my resolve to go.
“Never for long,” I answered.
“Never,” she said. “I’m coming with you. Always.”
She wouldn’t care if it were too dangerous, regardless of any protest I made, so I simply smiled at the sentiment. By my side. Forever. Or as long as we had.
The gilded wainscotting of the Helos throne room greeted us. Dreadful place.
Being within those walls, beneath the giant golden sun emblem painted on the domed ceiling, reminded me of blood. Every gaudy fixture brought back gray-scale memories of acts I’d committed under Caym’s control. So many of my darkest moments lived here.
Elsedora took off her fur-lined coat, and a charm floated it to a hook by the entryway.
“I’ve spent more time in this throne room for the past twenty years than in the Sahlms’,” she admitted. “It’s a favorite place of mine.”
That made one of us.
She flitted over to the throne and dramatically sat upon it, crossing her legs demurely.
The corners of my mouth crept up. “Why is it your favorite?” I’d humor her. Even if I hated every aspect of the room.
“Because this Corridor is my home; my roots are planted in the North—the winds call me back. Getting to have a part in reshaping it, meeting with the lords here, and establishing something new. I enjoyed it.”
“I wish I shared your enthusiasm. I dislike this room and that throne immensely. You can have it. You look better on it anyway.”
Her gaze narrowed, and she pursed her lips before leaping up to pull open all the curtains on the far wall. “How could you hate a view like this?” she asked.
The room was bathed in a beige light that softened the glow of the gold chandelier and made it feel warm despite the chilly air and shiny surfaces. The Hussa Mountains looked more beautiful as her backdrop.
“The view from the gardens is even better,” I mused. “But this one isn’t so bad either.”
“Never spent much time down there,” she hummed out as she stared at me. As I stood in front of the throne, I assessed her too.
Outlined in sunbeams cast from the snow-topped mountains outside the window, she looked encased in a glowing halo of light.
“Find the light in your darkest days.” My mother had repeated the saying to me so many times. I’d ignored her, never worried I’d need to remember it.
Yet there Elsedora was—someone to guide me away from the grim moments this place held.
“Sit down,” she demanded. I hesitated. “I said, sit, pet.”
I collapsed onto the ugly, oversized piece of furniture. When she approached with the pillow my crown sat on, there was a glint in her eye that spelled trouble... the good kind. “What are you doing?”
“Making you like your throne. Because I do not want it. Though, I’d happily worship a King worthy of sitting on it.”
Her gaze never left mine as she lowered the onyx-embellished crown onto my head and discarded the pillow.
Once done, she parted my knees and knelt down before me between my legs.
Now that I’d had a taste of her, my desire spiked at once, and my length hardened against the seam of my leathers at the mere thought of her wanting me.
If I weren’t careful, I might not hold it together. Spilling into my pants would be dreadfully unfortunate, since the way she peered up at me wantonly through light lashes promised something spectacular.
My breath and heart rate quickened.
“You name all your weapons, don’t you?” she asked as she worked the buttons of my leathers open and freed me from them.
She lacked any shyness. I’d once found her forward nature off-putting.
I’d been the biggest fool.
She gripped me and stroked from base to tip. Clutching the throne’s gilded arms, I groaned out, “Yes.”
“And what is this blade’s name?” She moved her hand up my shaft.
“I don’t…” Heat crept to my cheeks, and she huffed a laugh.
Then she leaned down and took the tip of my cock into her mouth, rolling her tongue around it before releasing me with a pop.
“Fuck…”
“That is a terrible name for a sword,” she said. “What is its name?”
“Elsedora...” My tone pleaded for more.
“Now that... that is a good name for a blade.”
I couldn’t disagree. “That’s already my new sword’s name,” I choked out as she took me in her mouth again, and I huffed in an indulgent groan.
Why not let her lay claim to the one in my pants too? She seemed to agree, because she moaned around me, and I fought bucking my hips.
“Sources.” My head fell back, and I relished seeing her lips wrapped around me as she took me to the base. Her eyes watered, and I risked losing all composure. When my hips thrust up of their own accord, she hummed, only adding to the pleasure.
“I need you... now,” I ground out.
She finally gave me some reprieve and released me from her divine mouth. In seconds, our clothes became a heap on the throne room floor. I was unsure who took off what. Guards or maids could interrupt at any moment.
I moved to stand, and she pushed my shoulders down. “No. Here,” she commanded in that sultry tone I couldn’t deny.
Spinning her by the hips so that she faced the windows, I seated her on top of me, cupped a breast in one hand, and let my other trail to her core. “Is all of this just for me?” I breathed into her ear, finding her already slick and ready when I circled my fingers along her seam.
“Only you. We’ve established that,” she confirmed with finality. I ground against her and pushed at her opening.
“Good,” I groaned as I pulled her hips down onto me and thrust up, entering her welcoming heat. A tantalizing high-pitched cry made my cock twitch inside her. Her hands found their way to mine, keeping me in place—a wordless plea to keep touching her as she rocked against me.
I matched her rhythm, thrusting into her until we were breathless, until my vision blurred and there was nothing but auburn hair and the smell of plum blossoms, and her.
When she constricted around me with a satiated cry, I followed her into that sweet oblivion.
Lynx roared at the gates as we exited into the frostbitten garden. The pine trees poked up from the snow-capped mountains that the castle sat upon, offering a blanket of green against the otherwise colorless cliffs.
The Lynx chattered loudly and ran off to patrol the perimeter, seeming reluctant to let me out of their sight. Fiercely loyal animals—they were growing on me.
Elsedora, now redressed in her riding leathers and thick coat, looked reverently over the landscape. The city of Helos sprawled between the caps below us.
She gasped. “Sources. You were right. This view... it is better.”
The cold had reddened her nose. She leaned her elbows on the low wall that separated us from a dramatic drop off. I gazed down at her. “It’s quite something, that’s for sure.”
Maybe I could get used to this cold, gilded castle and the crown she insisted I continue to wear.
The Corridor that built her deserved to be protected, honored, loved.
She glanced up at me, and when she realized I wasn’t talking about being at the top of a peak, she smiled. Pink touched the rest of her face now.
The Lynx grew more adamant, yowling. A warning call.
“What is—”
Before I got the question out, footsteps crunched along the snowy cobblestone.
Guards circled the back of the castle. “King Mattock, there are visitors at the front gate—one looks in a bad way.”
“Who are they?” I asked, taken aback by the sudden interruption. It seemed our moments of peace were over for now.
“Says he’s the Prince of the West Corridor—Regon Bringham. It’s hard to tell. The other looks fraught and keeps trying to force his way into the castle. Didn’t get a name.”
The guards’ breath carried through the air in a plume of steam.
I straightened and stepped from the wall.
El’s warmth crowded behind me. “What do you mean it’s hard to tell?”
“He’s pretty beaten, Lady Lamoreaux. If you’d rather go inside than see, we can escort you safely.”
Elsedora solemnly answered, “I promise you, I’ve seen worse.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Else didn’t talk about her past often, but it’d sounded as though her early years in the Sahlms had been far from easy.
“I’ll be right there,” I said, and the three guards hurried back toward the front of the sprawling grounds. If the Prince of the West Corridor was here, I needed to confer with my advisor. With our morning of lovemaking interrupted, now I needed her guidance. What do I do?
Else worried at her lower lip. Then a flare of recognition lit her eyes.
“Haag. When I rode off to the West before the celebrations, he and I had a little run-in. He looked strange—haunted. The maids were gossiping about him, saying he was talking to himself more frequently. They suspected Regon was poisoning him. I wonder if he is to blame if the Prince is beaten. Could have gotten spooked by Regon’s rising approval with his lords and other rulers. ”
A low growl built in my throat, but I snuffed it out. “Why were you inside the castle at Algarnd?”
“Down, puppy. I wasn’t visible, but Haag nearly ran into me. And then called on his guards to chase me. I’m fine. I’m here. Unscathed.”
I ground my teeth before I asked, “Were you alone?”
“No. I brought Mayra. She got me out of there.”
That bird was getting a barrel of the freshest fish I could find when we returned.
“Else,” I pleaded.
“Emmerick,” she parried back with a determined expression.
“I adore your drive for adventure, truly. I only wish you would ask me to go with you, to be by your side so you don’t face danger alone.”
Her demeanor softened, and breath released from her lungs. “You wouldn’t try to stop me?”
“Of course not. Now, come on. We have a visitor in need,” I said and waved for her to follow me. She offered me a weak smile.
She’d weathered far too many storms alone; so had I.
That changed today.