Dark Throne, The (19 page)

"Jender
. Were in
Halstor.”

His pants had settled down now, but the briskness of his
retort told her he was still winded
.

"Why couldn't we stop before
? Did we have to travel all this way?"

"Halstorn troops were marching towards
Jender
. Wasn't safe to
stop.”

His words were almost drowned out by the sounds of metal
clanking against metal
. To
Heather, it sounded like a clash of swords. But Fade didn't attempt
to sit up, which meant two things. Either he was too exhausted to
even bother fighting, or he knew what the noise was.

Fade was the sort who'd fight until his last breath, so she
relaxed and remained slumped against the floor not even bothering
to sit up and face the people nearing them
. Soon, they were surrounded by a fifteen strong
guard. In the dimness of the setting sun, she could just make out
the letter 'J' that was printed in an almost calligraphic
typography and the decorative swirls told her without much thought
that they were in her parents' castle. 'J' surely stood for
Jender?

It was the only logical assumption, considering Fade hadn't
made one move to try and defend the pair of them
.

That had to be, because they were safe
.

"Rise and declare thy right to be within the Jenderian
Palace keep
.”

Fade's tone was almost bored, but Heather knew it was
really weariness
. Her anxiety
for him overweighed any thoughts about finally meeting her parents.
"I am Fade of Haden. True heir to the Dark Throne. This is my wife,
my mate and Princess, Lady Heather of Jender.”

"Your lies and your enemy blood will send the pair of you
to the Tower
.” the guard
retorted. "Lady Heather has been dead these past two decades. How
dare you come here and add to our beloved King and Queen's
grief.”

"As a Prince of Mearth, I demand the right to an audience
with King Henrik
.”

In the dark of the night, it was impossible to discern the
guards' reaction to this
.
However, they heard whispers and then an, "Alright. But it shall
have to be in the morning. Ain't no one allowed to bother their
Majesties once they've retired to their chambers. You shall have to
come with us and we'll hand you over to the Palace
Guardian.”

To Heather, he whispered, "Considering your father has to
be nearing his one hundred and fiftieth year, one has to
congratulate his staying power
.” Immediately understanding what he meant and blushing
like a prepubescent teenager at the thought of her parents having
sex, it took a few seconds for her father's age to settle in her
brain. Before she even had the chance to freak out about that, Fade
began speaking to the guard, "I shall be sure to inform their
Majesties of my treatment, as soon as I visit with
them.”

He grunted as he curled upward and jumped to his
feet
. He bent down and helped
her stand. Even though her extremities had had time to return to
normal, she gasped as soon as her weight hit her legs and stumbled.
Fade caught her but one of the guards also stepped towards her to
keep her upright.

"Mother Mearth
.” he
gasped out.

Hearing his cry, the guards spun around and his words were
repeated a dozen times by the men surrounding
them
.

"It's her
.”

"It's the wee Princess
.”

"Mother Mearth protect us
.”

"Mother Mearth be thanked
.”

"She looks just like the Queen
.”

Upon this last uttering, the entire group dropped to
their knees in a bow so low their
foreheads touched the ground.

Unsure of what to do, she looked at Fade, who merely
smiled
. He needed rest and
soon and in what she hoped was a regal tone, murmured, "Thank you
for your kind words, men. But could you please show us to this
Palace Guardian? We are both sorely in need of rest.”

Like frogs, they all leapt as one into a standing position
and they complied so quickly with her request, that Fade and she
were encircled in t
heir
protective grouping and were shuffled into the palace.

She would have liked to have seen where she was
going
. But not only was it
growing very dark, the grouping around them was so tight and the
men were all so tall, that she could see very little.

By the time light surrounded them, the guards dispersed and
saluted to a man in a similar uniform, but this one had more gold
in the decoration around the 'J'
. He sneered at the head guard, who was obviously informing
the Palace Guardian of her heritage and then, she was on the
receiving end of a lot of points and it was the Palace Guardian's
turn to drop to the ground, nose and forehead pressed to the floor,
ass in the air.

A
little flushed at such a reaction, she whispered, "You can
rise
. We just want to
rest.”

The Palace Guardian leapt to his feet and hurried over to
her, his eyes eating at her face with a greed that unsettled
her
. "Princess Heather,” he
breathed. "Welcome home.”

Clapping his hands together, a team of women and men
appeared out of nowhere
. All
of them did the nose-to-the-ground-ass-to-the-air thing and then
jumped up, when he clapped his hands again.

Heather didn't really have a chance to look
around
. She saw honey colored
stone walls, large fireplaces filled with a profusion of flowers
and paintings and statues in weird shapes and sizes. It looked like
how she'd imagine a castle on Earth, but
not
.

Only as Fade reached for her arm and urged her onward, did
Heather truly realize how tired she actually was
. Some starch had returned to her legs, but they
still wobbled and as they moved, the Palace Guardian - a man she
thought was more like a butler - garbled on and on about something
or other. While she felt guilty, she didn't process one word.
Instead, she was concentrating on placing one foot before the other
and not falling down to the ground. The latter terrified her more
than anything. The last thing she wanted was to make a fool of
herself and there had to be a hundred-strong crowd marching behind
them.

T
heir steps echoed
around the corridor and she blanked them out, relieved to the point
of crying, when the Palace Guardian came to a halt before a door
and opened it with a flourish.

Fade stepped into it and a second later, Heather did
too
. The Guardian entered,
closed the door and bowed again.

The whole bowing thing was quickly growing
tedious
.

"Is there anything I can do for Your Royal
Highnesses
? Do you require
water for bathing? Do you wish to dine?"

"No
. Have a member of
the guard stand outside our door,” Fade answered. "We might awaken
early, earlier than breakfast and will want to eat then. We will
also wish to bathe in the morning and I need some clothes and so
does her Royal highness. If you could make the arrangements. . .
.”

The Guardian nodded, something which probably gave him
rug-burn on his nose and jumped up before
disappearing
.

The thought made her giggle and Fade cocked a
brow
. "What the fuck is all
that bowing about? It's a wonder he didn't graze his nose just
then.”

He shrugged
. "It's the
way here in Jender. Each kingdom has their own customs. I would
imagine you grow accustomed to it, but I've heard about your
parents. They don't seem the sort to need such strictures. My
father, on the hand, loved all that pomp.” Fade shook his head.
"There will be many changes in my kingdom, if he has indeed
died.”

"What like?"

Fade scratched his forehead and then, proceeded to disrobe
before her as he answered
. She
was hard pressed to concentrate as golden flesh was revealed to her
hungry, if exhausted, gaze. "The serving maids were made to bare
their breasts at all times and were little more than royal
prostitutes, who had to make their services available to the men
visiting the castle.” He grimaced. "I have always been ashamed of
my father. And that is one of his least disturbing
dictates.”

"Christ
. What a
creep.”

Another twitch of the lips
. "I like this word. Creep. Yes. He was that.”

As more of his flesh was revealed, Heather realized
something
. It was difficult to
discern, because his golden skin just seemed to shimmer all the
more, but she bit out, "You're sunburned.”

"A little
,” Fade
admitted with a shrug.

She glared at him
. "We
need some salve.”

"No
. Don't be silly.
It doesn't hurt. Does it look painful?"

She had to admit that unlike the human version, where the
skin looked as though it had been cooked, his looked even
healthier
. He literally
glowed.

Fuck, he was sexy
.

She shook her head and he smiled
placatingly
. "I'm fine,
dearling. Now, are you coming to bed? Or do you intend to hop in
fully dressed?"

Heather flipped him the bird, to which he immediately
laughed
.

Chapter
Nine

As she shucked off he
r
high-tops and track pants, Heather couldn't deny how much she loved
to hear him laugh. He did it so rarely, that it was so wonderful to
hear the masculine sound of amusement.

She pulled of her track jacket and then her T-shirt and in
her bra and panties, walked over to the enormous bed, into which
he'd just climbed
. "This room
is a bit. . . .”

Over the top
.

Gilt upon ornate, ornate upon gilt
.

In a way, Fade suited the room
. He blended in with all the gold. The walls were
honey-colored, but they were adorned with almost room-long
tapestries depicting, in gold and silver, battles and other various
scenes.

A
huge rug covered the entire floor and considering the room was
larger than her entire house's floor plan, that was no mean
feat
. Four armchairs were
grouped together around a small table on one side, a large desk
with the ancient version of an office chair was against another
wall, console tables littered the room weighed down with ornaments
and objet d'art.

That this was her birthright, astounded
her
.

And it was only a guest
suite.

What the hell would her parents' suite
be like?

"You'll get used to it
. Royalty has to display their wealth in these ways. And
Jender is richer than most. Mother Mearth has granted many bounties
upon its soil. The harvests here are never afflicted. There are
great caverns of ore beneath the ground. It is why, now your father
is old and without a direct heir, that other kingdoms are looking
to attack.”

She stood beside the bed, looking at his glowing face
against the crisp white pillows
. Even fatigued, he was a dish. And despite her own
tiredness, she could have fucked him raw. Instead, she said,
"You'll protect them, won't you, Fade?"

"Of course
. You need
not fear for them, dearling.”

"Is my father really one hundred and
fifty years old?"

"Thereabouts, I believe
. We age differently here. The average life span is two
hundred, two-twenty. But Kings your father's age tend to abdicate
to allow fresh blood to reign especially in times of strife.” He
sighed. "Are you coming to bed? Or are you going to stand there all
night?"

Rather than reply, she climbed in and lay stiffly beside
him, unsure of what to do
. She
wanted to crawl over him and lay atop him like she had this
morning. But he was tired. He needed rest.

When he reached for her, she didn't argue and let him
arrange her, how he wanted, because she was relieved he'd taken
control of the situation and he was taking her where she wanted to
be
. Surrounded by his scent,
the very essence of him.

Her bra was promptly removed and her panties were torn
away
. He ignored her grunt and
his fingers soon swept between her legs.

She was ashamed that it took three rubs, two pinches and
the insertion of one thick finger to make her
cum
. His movements were almost
clinical as he inserted his cock inside her and rested her atop
him. By the time she realized he wasn't thrusting, she'd ceased
panting from the pleasure he'd just given her and saw that he was
asleep.