THE KING AND HIS MISTRESSSally pulled away from Danika and wiped her tears. “You’re right, my princess. You’re right.”
Danika helped her wipe her tears. She kept smiling at Sally until Sally gave her a watery grin. “That’s more like it.” Danika encouraged, still smiling, “Let’s look on the bright side. We live in the royal quarters now. Away from noises and troubles. We have a bigger bed and a bigger room. We have a beautiful rug and exquisite cottons on the window. With a little work on this bedroom, we might be able to get it to look like my former bedroom in Mombana.”
Sally brightened instantly. “Oh, yes! I like that thought, my princess! Just leave that one to me! I’ll make this room look like that.” She grinned and whirled around excitedly. “Ahh, the day is suddenly looking so bright, my princess!”
Danika’s smile turned to a full-blown grin. “The only person brightening up the day is you, Sally.”
As she walked to the bathroom, Danika was still happy. She was happy about a lot of things: the king talking to her, embracing her, sleeping in her arms. She was happy about having a friend like Sally. And now, Remeta had joined her family, and she was happy too.
It didn’t matter what the future held. What mattered was that she had a small family that loved her. She would do everything within her power to help Remeta get better.
She just wished that there was a way she could help the king, too.
As Danika took Remeta and Sally out of the palace, the people resumed looking at them in that strange, uncomprehending way.
Sally skidded her way in front of them, smiling happily and greeting everyone. They returned her greeting with the same enthusiasm.
Danika was holding Remeta’s hand, while the girl pressed close to her, afraid of the crowd of people as they passed. After staying indoors for so long, she wasn’t used to them at all, especially the way they looked at her.
They had just cut through another route when a small child suddenly ran headfirst into Danika. The child pulled back and looked up at Danika. He looked to be five years old and was dirty from head to toe from playing. From his tattered clothes, Danika knew he was the child of a lowborn family. Danika stared at the spot where the child bumped into her, and he saw the dirt on her white gown.
“I’m so sorry! So sorry!” The boy bowed repeatedly, obviously scared that she’d punish him.
She recognized the mother of the child as the woman suddenly started running close to them. She snatched her child and pulled the baby protectively behind her back. The woman knew who Danika was, and she also knew that even though she was now a slave, she was still a king’s slave. She could easily get the king to punish her baby.
“Don’t hurt my son, please. He didn’t see you or he would have never run into you!” the woman pleaded, even as she gazed at Danika loathingly.
Although she was now a slave, Danika still stood proudly, like the princess she used to be. She held her shoulders back, her nose was in the air. Her stance screams royalty in capital letters, the woman thought miserably. Also, she is the late King Cone’s daughter, and she would never have mercy. Just the thought of it almost made the woman want to tear up and start crying.
It surprised the woman when Danika touched her shoulder soothingly. “It’s alright, ma’am. There is no harm done.” She even gave her a little smile before she walked past the woman and started down the road in her usual elegant steps.
The woman’s mouth hung open with disbelief. Hers and almost thirty other women.
When King Lucien stirred, the sun had left the sky, and it was late evening. How did he fall asleep? And he had fallen asleep, he thought as he rose from the bed. Memories swarmed him as he sat up and stared around the empty room.
He’d slept in Danika’s embrace. Again. Where was she?
He got up from the bed, wondering how he had slept for as long as he did. He took a step forward and noticed that his leg no longer hurt.
Just then, the door opened and Vetta entered.
“You’re awake, my king. For a moment, I thought you wouldn’t wake until morning. You slept for that long.” She walked closer to him and bowed her head in greeting.
He acknowledged her with a nod of his head and walked past her to his wardrobe and undressed himself. “Vetta. I haven’t seen you today. Where did you go?”
His concern for her whereabouts made Vetta giddy with excitement, but she couldn’t tell him she paid the healer of fertility a visit.
“I went into town to see my tailor. She’s making me beautiful new corsets, my king.” That much was true.
“I heard you were invited to a ball.”
“Yes, my king.” She revealed with barely curbed excitement. “I was wondering if you would like to be my escort for the party.”
“I can’t attend. You know I don’t like parties,” he stated flatly as he brought out his evening garment.
She walked closer to him and took it from him. He let her have it. She helped him clothe his body.
“Yes, I know, my king.” Vetta sighed, hiding her disappointment. She’d been hoping that he’d still do it for her, even though he hated it.He hated the music, the noise, and the activities of a party. The king just loved his own company more.
She remembered the fertility pill in her pocket and grinned secretly. Pausing at the last button, she leaned down and kissed his chest. He stiffened instantly. But she did it again and again, kissing him all over. She wanted him so much. She wanted to feel him inside her, and she wanted to carry his seed inside her afterwards.
“Let me make you feel good, my king,” she whispered seductively, running her hand all over him.
His brows knitted together, and he pulled away from her. “Not today, Vetta. I need to get some work done.”
Shit! She gave it another try. “I can suck you with my mouth. You will enjoy it; you know you always do,” she whispered seductively.
His brows knit together as if he was remembering something. Then he shook his head. “Not tonight, Vetta.”
Knowing that more persuasion wouldn’t work well for her, Vetta nodded, doing her best to hide her disappointment. She finished working on his button and stepped back.
He walked past her to his desk and got behind it. His face was the usual unreadable, stony mask, like they carved it out of granite. But there was a relaxation to him that wasn’t there before, Vetta thought. Her brows knotted in thought. Could it be because of the sleep he got? Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t been able to make him sleep—unlike that godforsaken slave. Maybe she could visit a healer for the best herbs for sleep.
She cleared her throat, not knowing how to go about asking him the question that had been disturbing her since. “My king.”
He pulled out an unused feather and opened a fresh bottle of ink. “What is it?”