Loving the Forbidden Prince

AYLETH

She couldn't see her Knight Defender's face in the dark, but she could feel the tension in him—and the disapproval. 

"Ayleth," Falek growled, as if they'd already started the conversation and he was already most of the way to disagreeing. 

"I'm a married woman, Falek."

"And still in an incredible amount of risk. Etan himself said they couldn't let anything come between him and the Peace Accord—that it was imperative they give no one any reason to cut him from the signing!"

"And I agree. I have no intention of giving anyone any reason to think anything ill of him. I am merely too excited to sleep because of the prospect of the Peace Accord, and my impending marriage. So I request the attendance of my Knight Defender as I walk the very safe halls of the castle to try to work up some tiredness to sleep."

"Ayleth—"

"Falek, please. Please!" she hissed, urgent and suddenly on the verge of tears. "I have to see him. And I know you can get me there without anyone the wiser."

Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness again. She could see the sharp angles of his face—his cheekbone high and eyes a dark shadow above them. 

"Imagine it was you, and that was your wife, and you were only half a castle away… wouldn't you want to be with her? He needs me, Falek. He's struggling."

Falek muttered something about awakening love before it's time, but didn't respond. Ayleth wanted to stamp her foot, but instead pushed her shoulders back and met his gaze—or, the dark shadows where his gaze would be—and said in her most imperious voice, "I am going to walk the halls tonight. The only choice you have is whether to accompany me."

He tipped his head then in a way that she knew meant he'd raised a single eyebrow. 

"And how will you explain yourself, unescorted, in the dead of night? The guards would stop you sooner than I would!"

She did stamp her foot then, and winced as her bare heel rang on the stone. "Falek, please. Don't tease me."

"I'm not teasing. It is a risk, Ayleth. And one I do not believe will be rewarded."

"Not for you, maybe. But my mother already confirmed that he's declaring. He's already set everything in motion. The only thing we have to do is get through tonight and I'm not going to sleep unless I see him!"

"See him? Is that all?"

She glared again, praying he could see her features more easily than she could see his. "That is none of your business," she said primly. 

Falek snorted, then went silent again. "I will go," he said a moment later, "only because I sense that you are not taking the risk seriously enough. That you will sneak out alone if I don't take you. And that would be far worse. But I will go on one condition."

"Name it!"

"You do exactly as I say. You go where I tell you to, you follow my lead if we speak to anyone. And if I give the signal to abort, you do not argue, but turn on your heel and we return to this chamber."

"But—"

"If I sense anything afoot that could derail your husband," he emphasized the word, "I will return you here and tie you up to keep you in place until morning, sleep be damned."

Her mouth dropped open, but he had agreed! He would take her and she would see Etan and touch him and… 

"Thank you, Falek," she said, putting a hand to his chest. "Truly. Thank you."

He growled another curse, but stepped past her to open the door and bid her to dress while he remained outside.

Ayleth had never dressed faster in her life.

***** 

ETAN

He lay in his bed in his sufficient, but unwelcoming chamber, his mind filled with Ayleth and the memory of his hands filled with her body.

He stared at the thick, bare rafters in the ceiling and shook his head, raking his hands through his hair and rubbing his cheek that was now stubbled and scratchy. But his eyes refused to close—and when he forced them, he was only tormented further by images of Ayleth, naked and flushed, under him.

Had it really only been one day?

His body ached. His heart throbbed—as did other portions of his body. 

And always, through his head, echoed the taunting horror. 

Last chance. 

Last chance to see her. Last chance to touch her. Last chance to hear her voice before all hell broke loose.

Last chance to hold her and comfort her.

Last chance to give himself to her, and take her in return.

Last chance. Last chance. Last chance.

Of course he prayed there would be a day in the not-too-distant future where they would be together always. And no more risk of harm to her. But until he had solved the problem of her mother's sick spell…

Last chance.

He rolled over, clenching his fists, then shoving them between his thighs as his body prickled with want. No! He couldn't risk going to her. If he was found in the castle—especially in the royal wing… 

Last chance. 

He rolled over again, burying himself under the thick covers. But his eyes remained open, and his body tense. Trembling with want.

Borsche had excused himself to go to bed in the servant's chamber that adjoined the central living space outside his bedchamber door. But Etan suspected Borsche wasn't sleeping either—and probably not even in the room.

Much was afoot in the castle tonight. If Etan knew him at all, Borsche would have changed back into the plain, dark clothes of a servant or soldier, and he would be scouring the castle for news, for plots, for warnings.

He would not sleep tonight for trying to find out what he must protect Etan from.

He was still angry with Etan for the subterfuge with Ayleth and Falek. But he understood. Etan suspected, though, that his man was out there, right now, trying to find an alternate plan. Something that would allow Etan to keep Ayleth on side. To declare for her.

And Etan prayed that somehow Borsche would do it. 

But a moment later he threw back the covers and sat up on the bed, because those words wouldn't stop haunting him. 

Last. Chance. 

He'd scooted off the bed and hurried the few steps to the clothing he'd thrown over the chair in the corner. He'd just picked up his trousers—to hell with underclothes, he didn't need them for this—when he heard the door creak and he turned… to find Ayleth in the doorway, shrouded in a heavy cloak that covered her from shoulders to feet. 

As he stood there, stunned, she stepped into his room silently, and Falek leaned past her to close the door behind her, leaving Etan and Ayleth both shrouded in the half-dark, because he hadn't closed his curtains.

Moonlight made her fair skin glow as she fiddled at her throat, then threw the cloak off, revealing a long, thin and—Etan suspected—mostly see-through nightdress beneath.

"I couldn't stay away from you, Etan," she whispered, her voice a pleading ache.

Every hair on Etan's body stood up. Along with other, more demanding parts of him, as he leapt across the room to take her in his arms.

******

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