ISLE OF EMOTIONSA
fter Remeta ran away, Danika couldn’t help stealing glances at the king. There was so much pain in his eyes it made her heart ache. Why would he hurt this way? Oh, what did Remeta say to trigger a look like that?
She didn’t know that her arm rose of its own accord until she felt her hand stroke his back, soothing him. She didn’t know where the courage came from as she caressed him.
King Lucien was deep in his head and didn’t notice the comforting caresses on his back at first. Remeta had spoken about babies, and it had triggered painful memories—memories of when the healers and medicine men of the kingdom told him one after another that he couldn’t father a child. Memories of the first year after slavery, when he had desperately tried to prove them wrong, bedding as many women of the kingdom as were happy to grace his bed. He had bedded so many he lost count, but none of those females had carried his fruit. He was so desperate then; it didn’t matter who would carry his child. It didn’t matter if it was a slave or an outcast; he just wanted to father a child.
But when none of them could carry his child, he knew then that, indeed, he could not father a child. In his bitter heart, the knowledge hurt. It had been hurting from the beginning because he was a sterile king. Scarred and sterile. Broken.
Cone annihilated him. Repeatedly. In the deepest way a man could defeat another without taking his life.
And now, little Remeta innocently grinned up at him to speak of a child. It caused internal pain. For someone else, he would have ordered her execution to say such to him. But from Remeta, he could only retreat deep into his mind, devoured by painful memories.
The soothing hand on his back dragged him back from the miserable abyss. It was as if all the demons of the past vanished, and his head was clear again. He swiveled his head and stared at Danika. She had concern written all over her face, her eyes filled with warmth. But she quickly snatched her hand back to keep from getting punished.
It was at the tip of the king’s tongue to ask Danika to put her hand back on him again—anything to keep those monsters at bay. But he didn’t. Instead, he moved forward. Danika walked beside his stiff body. Tension radiated from him in waves.
They walked away from the palace grounds. It was a long walk. With each step they took, the evening wind caressed them. The beautiful sight of the sun disappearing completely from the sky had Danika captivated.
It was refreshing, this walk away from the palace. Away from slavery and suffering—even for a moment.
It must have been refreshing for the king, too, because the tension slowly left his body. They entered the woods, and the only sound in the air was the chirping of birds and the whistle of the wind.
They saw Remeta far ahead of them, laughing and chasing crickets. “See! My queen, see!” she screamed as she chased them around, her face radiating joy.
Danika looked at the king for permission, and he nodded his head, so she hurried ahead towards Remeta and joined her in chasing crickets around. It was funny how the crickets slipped from their fingers and led them in the circles of a goose chase, and Danika smiled alongside a laughing Remeta.
King Lucien stood quite far from them, using one arm to support the other. He pursed his lips in thought. It was a beautiful sight, seeing Danika and Remeta like that. He was fascinated by the beautiful smile on Danika’s face as she chased after Remeta, who was chasing after an evening cricket. His worries dissolved at the sight. A different kind of peace fell upon him. Away from the palace, he allowed himself to lose himself in the evening walk’s peace and serenity.
Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply. This was what he wanted. He can have this—even if it was just for this evening.
He felt a presence beside him and opened his eyes to see Danika standing before him. Remeta was nowhere in sight.
“Where is Remeta?” he asked.
“She chased a cricket down the river,” she replied with a beautiful smile, pointing in the direction Remeta went.
He allowed his eyes to truly look at her again. Earlier in the afternoon, some oddities happened when he was with his mistress that left him baffled. It had been difficult for him to get hard for his mistress. He wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t want her. And when he was eventually in the mood, it was Danika that filled his thoughts. He’d always endured the touch of his mistress for the past five years; he was used to it. But today, he found it hard to endure it. While she moaned her pleasure, his head took him back to the night before when he had Danika in his arms. Her innocence and eagerness to please. The sweetness that was uniquely hers. His enjoyment from her touch alone. Her moans. The tightness of her body wrapped around his organ.
It took him a moment, but he forced himself to shut his mind away from the memories of it.
In the past, when he thought of the past, it meant horrors because he could only remember his time in slavery. For the first time, his memory wasn’t dipped in horror.
He did not understand it. He could not comprehend it, but it was what it was. Who was this woman?
When he’d told her she pleased him, he saw Danika. He forgot for a few seconds it was his slave in his arms.
Now, he gave her words he’d always wanted to say to her but hadn’t been able to let himself utter it before.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered.
Danika’s cheeks flushed red at the compliment, and she ducked her head. “Thank you, master.”
He turned and started walking with his hands behind his back. “I am your king for this evening. Not your master.”
The reminder made her glow. She took a leap of faith. “Then may I ask you a question, my king?”
When he gave no reply, she bit her lips. She walked beside him in silence, inwardly cautioning herself not to overstep her boundaries again.
He stretched out his hand towards her and waited. She stared at this hand in bewilderment, wondering what the silent request was. She raised her eyes to his expressionless face—which was staring ahead—and there was no clue about it.
Surely, it wasn’t what she was thinking.