The King's Knight Ch. 02

He thrust upwards and her lips stopped curling into that smile and instead formed an 'o' of shock and pleasure.

"Ma...tteo!"

Her voice was different this time it shook and sounded a little strained.

He thrust up again, meeting her fiercely. Grasping her hips and watching her breasts bounce violently with their movements. Her legs were shaking and her eyes were scrunched shut.

Several thrusts later she screamed his name, over and over again, her smooth movements became jerky and uncoordinated. He felt her channel squeeze and pulse around him and that took him over the edge. He called her name in turn as he came, violently; encased to the root inside her quivering quim. He pulled out slightly then kept plunging into her repeatedly until he stilled and she fell atop him, gasping and shuddering.

They lay in silence, listening to each other's uneven breaths and the sound of the rain which filtered slowly back into their little world.

She finally raised up and smiled at him shakily.

"Wow"

She laughed and he, his heart full of warmth and tenderness, laughed too.

Two days later, they returned to Ethren.

Three weeks later she stormed into the orphanage, dragged Matteo far enough into the wood behind the monastery where no one would bother them, made him sit on a random log and grasped his shoulders, staring into his eyes.

"Are you the missing fifth Prince of Cartine?"

His nostrils flared and his eyes bulged.

"How?.."

She pulled away from him violently with a rough curse.

"Fuck!"

Exasperation and disbelief made her speechless for a moment as she stared at him.

She sighed

"The King welcomed some guests today."

She saw the uneasiness and questions in his eyes and sighed.

"An envoy from Cartine. Evidently they're tracking their errant, runaway fifth Prince."

He started then rose up.

She waved him down.

"Don't even think about running, you won't make it far. They hired Blood Trackers. Gods alone know how. You've been tracked here, bitten by one of their little bugs that returned with news of the area where you're located. They have you Matteo, even if you run now their bugs or worms or whatever creepy creatures in their arsenal will find you."

He deflated then.

Shoulders hunched, hands over his face, he looked defeated.

"If your mother knows I bedded you, she'll kill me." Keela groaned.

She walked up to him and cuffed him to the back of his head.

"What were you thinking?"

"I just needed to get away, from her, from them, from it all."

Keela sighed again.

By the Piteous Saint.

"Listen, make things easier for yourself and go in voluntarily. Your capture is inevitable and you may hurt innocent people unknowingly."

He nodded sullenly.

"Next, you're still a virgin. We never tumbled. The night in the forest never happened."

With that one he rose up agitatedly.

"No. How could you say that?"

"It's for the best Matteo, I like my head squarely on my neck thank you very much and would hate for it to be offered for the sake of peace to your mother. "

"Then come with me," he said looking hopeful. "Come as my consort, as my future Queen..."

"No!" Keela backed away, shaking her head. "No, no, no Matteo."

"But why?"

"I already explained why, that night I explained. "

"But what if you're pregnant? I came so much inside you.."

"Not possible. My womb is blessed."

"Blessed?"

"Yes, in our line of work, when you're a woman, it's a necessity. Seed won't take root with this blessing, be it willingly planted......or not."

With that they were silent. Matteo looked hurt and Keela felt tired.

"Go home Matteo," she murmured. "Our time together was pleasant but for the sake of peace and my life, may it remain nothing but a sweet memory. I give you nothing but my well wishes and blessings of good fortune. Be happy Matteo. Goodbye."

She turned and started walking away.

"But what if I cannot be happy without you?"

She paused but only for a moment, then kept walking. Never once did she turn around.

Thunder rumbled overhead, bringing the distracted Queen out of the mess of memories that consumed her. She felt a presence behind and over her. She felt the anger and frustration in the tension that oozed off his body and bore down on her back, she sighed deeply. The fortitude acquired earlier was slowly cracking, she turned around and bent her neck upwards.

Once the ring was off Matteo was truly a beautiful man.

Were all princes so disgustingly beautiful?

His eyes remained golden but were brighter than before, lush lips, high cheekbones, sculpted nose.

Ugh.

His body though......raw power oozed from his enormous frame. He was perfection. A different perfection to the King but ⁸ nonetheless.

Before she could greet him he asked one question. His voice sounded so sorrowful and lost. She felt guilt and pain for him. She now regretted that night.

"Why?"

"Matteo...."

"Why him and not me? Does he even love you? Or is your love for Ethren so deep that it doesn't even matter if you're married to that ice block!"

"Matteo."

Her voice lowered and carried a hint of warning, letting him know not to go too far.

Why was this happening, was she so dense to not notice his crush on her until it was too late. And now this?

She stared at him sadly.

"I'm sorry Matteo. Why does not matter now. All that matters is that I am Queen of Ethren, that will not change. Regardless of the why."

She felt shaken, his emotions were affecting her.

"Now excuse me," she brushed past him and headed back into the corridor. "Do enjoy our hospitality, Prince Matteo."

She left again without turning back. Even when she heard him growl aloud, slamming what she assumed was a fist into the wall. Not even when he uttered her name in a broken whisper.

Keela bustled through the lonely corridor. Her chest felt tight and her earlier confidence was slowly leaving her. She needed to get away, away from these walls and these people. She needed..

She gasped and came to a stop when a tall figure stepped out from an adjoining corridor ahead of her. As it walked into the light her hands shook and her eyes widened.

The figure limped before her, eyes gentle. Soft smile on warm lips. Ankle length locks swaying with his uneven gait.

She moaned low in her throat and shut her eyes.

Her chest hurt.

"My Queen."

The sonorous voice rumbled and her eyes snapped open. The figure kneeled before her at a respectful distance. She felt no malice or anger from him. Just pure tenderness and acceptance.

Maybe that is why she fell for him all those years back. If not love, it's the closest to love she had ever felt for a man.

When she pictured her life after Knighthood, when she pictured her cottage and dogs and pond, it was his face that she pictured with that warm, familiar smile. His face next to hers in the morning, his face bathed in dusk light as they sat on the porch of their home, his face.

"Amari."

His name was a strangled, desolate sound in her throat.

He smiled again and gazed at her fondly.

"Congratulations on your marriage my Queen." he began. "I wish you and our King bliss and I bless your bond."

He shifted slightly, she knew his leg must be aching and opened her mouth to tell him to rise but no sound came out.

"I know we promised each other that if, at the end of both our tenures, we found no others to be in our heart that we'd be each other's." He placed his large, brown hand within his robe and withdrew a wooden figure, he stared at it for a moment, caressing the scarred face gently with his thumb then offered it to her.

Keela bit back a sob, she was almost in tears as she reached out and accepted the figure, still warm from his touch.

She was shaking all over.

"Alas. Such was not our fate." He sighed, looking forlornly at her.

"Keela N'Jeri Taluith, our promise to each other is broken. As you have, so shall I search for the heart of my hearth, so she can become the hearth of my home."

Tears spilled and Keela smiled an ugly smile. He had waited so long and she had disappointed him terribly. Even if he had found someone else, it would not have hurt this bad. No! She would have cried, gotten drunk, maybe found comfort in a sturdy pair of arms for a couple nights but she would not be devastated. Not like this.

"Be.."

Her voice cracked painfully and she coughed, clearing her throat.

"Be free Amari Eintou Sayers, such was not our fate. May the Goddess smile upon you and guide you to the heart of your hearth, who will become the hearth of your home. "

He bowed his head and received her blessings and her pain.

She stumbled around him and fled.

He kneeled for minutes, despite his calm exterior he felt melancholy and disappointed. But, he sighed, such is life.

He was about to rise when he felt a presence above him, he looked up only to gaze into the cold, violet eyes of the King.

He lowered his gaze immediately.

"Oh King."

No response. The King just stood over him, not speaking or moving. Tension made the air thick and suffocating and the majesty of His Highness' presence seemed to generate a weight that pressed down on his shoulders and cowed him.

"Didn't my people reach you?"

"Yes, my King. "

"And didn't they explain that your history with my Queen has become non-existent?"

"Yes, my King. "

"Then, pray tell me, why are you here?"

The last question felt like the edge of a sharpened knife against his gullet.

He lowered his head even further.

"I came as a friend and former comrade in arms to render my blessings my King."

Silence.

"I see."

More silence and waiting.

"Let this be the first and last time. Never show yourself before my wife again, are we clear?"

"Yes, my King."

"Now," indifferent eyes peered over him. Feeling like a bucket of ice water pouring over his flesh. "Leave us."

Amari rose and left swiftly, leaving the King alone in the corridor, staring into the direction in which his Queen left.

His left-advisor found him there a while later, seemingly deep in thought.

"If only she had asked....."

"My King?"

The King turned to the man, no emotion on his face.

"It's nothing. "

He then walked away.