“That is barbaric!” she gasped, tears in her eyes. She gripped her wrapping cloth tight.
“It was. He would make me kneel in front of him just to ridicule me and remind me how much of a weak prince I was for being enslaved with my people—for not being able to protect my people.”
She shook her head passionately. “You are not a weak king. Never!”
His eyes found her face again. “After slavery, I swore that I would never kneel or lower myself like that again in front of anybody again,” he whispered.
“King Cone was a monster. You’re not wea---” she cut off suddenly at his next actions.
Looking her in the eyes, he knelt before her.
“M-my king?” Her thoughts short-circuited at the sight in front of her. She was so dumbfounded; her head went blank, and for several seconds, she couldn't process that the king was kneeling in front of her.
“The past few days have not been easy. When I saw what I saw at the storeroom, something died inside me. I was in rage seeing the way that animal held what was mine.” He swallowed, rage flashing in his eyes. “When the thoughts of you both being lovers comes to my head, I found myself battling insanity. My rage knew no bounds.”
Tears filled Danika's eyes as she stood there watching him. “I have never laid with another man---”
“I know, I should have thought of that. But then Baski slipped about the pregnancy, and I just...broke.” He paused and swallowed. “It was the biggest slap I'd received for not being able to father a child.” Tears slipped from Danika’s eyes down to her cheeks. He shook his head slowly. “Please, forgive me Danika. For everything.”
What changed? What happened? She had so many questions in her mind.
The most powerful man she has ever met was kneeling in front of her—a position he swore never to be found again in his life after everything her father did to him. She was tongue-tied. The sight humbled her. The sight hurt her eyes too much.
Raising trembling hands, Danika reached for his shoulders. “Please, get up from the floor, my king. Please, get up.”
“No. I need you to forgive me, Danika,” he uttered sadly, his hand resting on her thigh.
“I forgive you,” she whispered then. “Truthfully. Wholeheartedly.”
He felt the weight of a huge burden lift from his shoulders. His eyes couldn't stop watching her, and he saw everything rage blinded had him from seeing before. How could he have thought that this woman here would give herself to that lowlife and carry his child in her? “Oh, Danika, I did you a great deal of wrong.” He placed his head on her thigh.
“No, you didn't. It's not entirely your fault. You believed what you saw. No one will blame you for that, King Lucien, because every other person will do the same thing.” Her hand reached for his and encircled it.
The one touch that never made him flinch. He wrapped his hand around her own.
“Please, get up,” she urged again.
He did. “Thank you so much, Danika.”
“What ch-changed, my king? How...How did you know of my innocence?” she asked tearfully, her hands swiping her eyes.
“The seers. They paid me a visit,” he stated, staring at his hands in thought. “They made me believe in a miracle.”
“A m-miracle?”
“My child.” He raised his eyes to her, pain outlining his features. “My child which you're carrying inside you. Let me see him, Danika. Let me.” There was real hunger in those words as he pulled her up and reached for her wrapping cloth, his eyes beseeching hers.
How could she deny him anything with such raw hunger in his eyes?
She swiped the tears of joy and relief from her eyes, and at the same time, she nodded her head.
Gently, he unknotted the wrapping cloth from her body and pulled it away from her. She stood before him stark naked, with only her skin clothing her. His eyes went to her slight belly bump which outlined her stomach and held there. She could have sworn that his eyes watered, but he blinked, and it disappeared like it was never there.
Silence stretched between them while he stood and watched her for long moments. Then he reached out and placed it on her belly so tentatively. “Oh, heavens. My son.”
The soft spoken words were her undoing. Danika began crying in relief, shock, pain and happiness at the same time. In two words, he'd made her world better again. In two words, he'd given her a dream she'd always wanted to come true. She couldn't hold her cries, her eyes following the gentlest movement of his strong hands caressing her belly.
Then he bent and lifted her up into his arms. She gasped at the unexpected movement, her arms clinging to his neck. “King Lucien?”
“I have already done the one thing in my life I swore to die instead of doing it again. And now, I will do the one thing I have never done before but have always wanted to do...to you.” He grunted as he walked to the bed and laid her gently on it. Her eyes met his as he came up on top of her, wedging himself in between her legs. His eyes found hers.
A blush spread all over her cheeks. “Oh...”
But he wasn't about to take her body in intimacy. What he planned to do was what this innocent woman has never had before. He did not bow down to anyone, much less the daughter of King Cone.
But the woman in his arms—the woman carrying his child—was not King Cone's daughter. She is Danika. His woman.
He had never done this before because he had never wanted to—mostly because he thought it a degrading act, like bowing to a woman. He'd always wanted to do the act to Danika, but he always restrained.
Tonight, he didn't.
He spread her thighs for him. His eyes held her confused shy eyes, as lowered his head and kissed the very center of her womanhood.
.
.
.