Keys to the Kingdom (15 page)

Lenora glared. "You would not dare..."

"Test me, my bride," he said. "Test me and you will find out that I am a man of my word."

Lenora sat back against the seat of the carriage. She would not test him, for she knew that he would do as he threatened. But her happiness had turned to anger now, for it was dawning on her that her husband seemed to think that marriage had somehow neutralized her somehow.

For his part, Kier dismissed Lenora's anger. Once they were in the castle, he decided, she would be so caught up in the festivities with her sisters that her good mood would return. Some good food and some good wine would relax her, and by the time he took her up to the wedding chamber she would offer no resistance, but only passion. In the morning, bloody sheets hanging from the window would further attest to the virility of the princes and the willing submission of the princesses to their advances.

Lenora did not speak to Kier as they exited. She did not smile as she entered the castle hall on his arm, even though he tried to coax her to. Her cold demeanor worried him, for he knew that regardless of what he told himself his work was not over. If she rebuffed him publicly tonight then that would start tongues to wagging. He could see Quentin and Fiona laughing, and it worried him that his brother already seemed to have won the respect and love of his fiery bride while he was clearly losing the love and respect of Lenora. What if the guests saw Quentin as the stronger prince because of it? He began to wish he'd done as he'd threatened and spanked Lenora in the carriage.

He was now even more determined to spank her that night, and to make sure his brothers did the same. They had to be unified in this. If even one prince failed to spank his bride, it may cause resentment and even more tension.

But there was no time to remind the brothers now. They were in the hall, and the banquet table stretched and stretched before them laden with more food than any of them had ever seen in one place. Exotic fruits sat piled in silver bowls. Roast goose with glistening golden skins sat fat and waiting to be carved. Already, servers were filling goblets with fragrant wine. Music and laugher were everywhere.

"We are husbands!" Kier turned to see his brothers, drinks already in hand, raising a toast. He took a goblet off a passing tray and joined.

"Now your work truly begins." King Elgar had joined them. "Now is not the time to rest on your laurels, for being a husband can be as fraught with danger as being a warrior."

The men all laughed. "We have readied our battle plan if that be the case, your majesty," Kier replied. In fact, we discussed this last night and have all agreed to remind our wives of our mastery."

"Well good luck with that," King Elgar chuckled. The sound of it did nothing to encourage Kier. Neither did the expressions of his brothers, who looked like smitten school lads as they took in the sight of their lovely wives huddled together in a gaggle of ladies from the court. He completely understood; how could a man look on such loveliness with anything other than complete and utter adoration? But Kier knew that underneath the beauty lay a very real challenge to their authority. How he and his brothers exercised their rule on the wedding night may very well indicate how they would rule their new kingdom they'd won through marriage.

Chapter Eleven

The Wedding Night

The wedding feasts and merrymaking were over. The guests had either gone home while the privileged ones had staggered - drunk on too much good wine - to their lodgings in the castle. The five couples bid one another farewell before retiring to their respective bedchambers.

The princesses were visibly nervous. Even Princess Lenora, usually so self-assured, was unusually quiet as she pondered her wedding night. On this pitch, her husband would have the advantage, for she suspected that he - like most handsome young men - had tumbled a wench or ten while she was yet a virgin.

"In the morning we can all meet for breakfast," said Lark, her eyes shining with happiness and a bit too much wine.

Kier put his arm around Lenora. "No, I think in the morning we shall all be more willing to stay abed. The night is far from over..."

The other brothers nodded knowingly and the sisters blushed, except for silly Lark who just giggled innocently. Leo, who was equally innocent although he'd never admit it to his brothers, tried to look as confident as his siblings.

The couples ascended the stairs one by one, the sisters stopping at the top to exchange kisses before joining their husbands in a night that everyone would remember.

Kier and Fiona: In Love and War

"Well then." Kier stood looking at his new wife, which he believed to be the most beautiful woman not just in the land, but surely in the entire world.

He walked over and took one of the silken curls in his hand and studied it. Her hair was like spun gold. She was living treasure, and it was now time for him to fully claim her.

"It is just you and I now, Princess. Wife."

"That it is," she replied. "And now I suppose you seek to enjoy the prize you have won."

There was a slight mocking tone to her words. As so often was the case, Kier could not tell whether she was joking or being serious.

"Is it not my right?"

"I do not cease to own my own body,
husband
," she said.

"A wife should obey her husband in all things," he said. "Even in the bedchamber. Once married, her body is no longer her own, but his."

"And his body is hers as well, is it not?" she asked.

"Indeed," he replied.

"So if he wished her body to yield and she wished for him to withhold his ardor then it would seem they'd be at something of an impasse, correct?" Her eyes glittered in the candlelight, and Kier got the feeling that she was using his own words to weave another web in which to trap him.

"Only a disobedient wife would put her husband at such an impasse," Kier said, tiring of his bride's game. "And her husband would be wise to keep such a wife compliant."

He sat on the bed and pulled her across his lap.

"And how exactly would he do that?" she asked, wriggling her bottom provocatively through the layers of her silk wedding dress. Kier's eyes widened. The little minx had been teasing him.

He stood her back up.

"Well, the first thing he would do would be to conquer the layer of fabric that lay between him and her," Kier said as he turned her and began undoing the long row of pearl buttons that held her gown closed.

"I could have a maid come do that," she purred.

"And deny me the joy of unwrapping the greatest gift I've ever gotten? Not a chance, Princess."

She stood smiling as he unfastened each and every button and the gown fell to her feet in a puddle of silk. Lenora stepped out, clad now in her stocking and stays. She smiled as she presented herself again to his nimble fingers, patiently waiting while he expertly undid the laces. He sat her on the edge of the bed, kneeling, and took her stockings off one by one, his mouth trailed the top of each stocking - kissing the skin high on each thigh and all the way down to her toes.

Lenora was naked now and Kier sat down beside her on the bed and pulled her across his lap.

"Now, wife," he said. "Tell me again of this 'impasse?'"

"I was simply saying, my lord, that a wife can decide whether to fulfill her husband's needs based on her discretion."

He raised his hand and brought it down on her bottom, not hard, but hard enough to illicit a little yelp.

"And if a husband disagrees with that philosophy, then he would be remiss in not reminding his wife of her place." He began to spank her now, teasingly, striking first one plump buttock and then another as Lenora's moans became sharp little cries of passion.

He did not want to hurt her, only to force her to travel that frenzied line between pleasure and pain. When her bottom was sufficiently pink, he lifted her and tossed her on her back and pinned her beneath him. He was still in his wedding clothes and felt a burning need to feel her soft skin against every inch of his own. He raised himself to his knees and she followed and began to feverishly work the fastenings on his clothing as he'd done on hers just moments earlier.

A fierceness was in her eyes that delighted and intimidated him. Lenora was going to be more than a match for him, he realized and when he was naked and ready he found she was as well. They collapsed on the bed and she opened her legs and trapped him between amazingly strong, soft thighs. He could feel her pulling him into her.

"Slowly, my love," he said, his voice strained with passion. "The first time will hurt."

"Not as much as the wait," she said determinedly, and he gasped as her hand found the base of his throbbing manhood and guided it between her thighs. She was wet and tight but thrust up to meet him as he shoved into her. He heard her gasp and closed his mouth over hers as innocence left her body in the form of one, sharp cry.

They were still for a moment but then he began to move, slowly, and Lenora's eyes widened with amazement as she began to move with him and reveled in the most exquisite of sensations.

"I love you!" she said, and he repeated it back as their eyes locked and the careened, together, into a swirling precipice of their own making and were united - finally - in every sense of the word.

Justin and Fiona: Manipulating Love

Justin paced the bedchamber, waiting for his wife's maids to leave. How long, he wondered, did it take women to change into their nightgowns. He walked to the table in the corner and poured a glass of ale. He'd not had much to drink at the wedding feast, preferring to keep his wits about him. But now he was seized by an uncharacteristic nervousness.

He told himself there was no need for the way he was feeling. He'd bedded his share of willing lasses. Fiona would be no different. Once he had her on his back and mindless with pleasure, she'd be just like any other female - quick to give into the sensations and begging for more.

The maids burst from the room, giggling and grinning at him as the exited the bedchamber. Silly things. He wondered why on earth the princesses tolerated their presence.

"Fiona?" He called to her, aggravated that she'd yet to come out of the changing room.

"I'm here," she said, and emerged. She wore a gown so white it reflected the pale luster of her skin. Her red hair hung like a flaming cloud around her shoulders. Never had Justin seen anything more beautiful.

"You're so pretty," he said, and then felt silly for sounding like a smitten schoolboy. He was a husband; he was supposed to be guiding her on this night, not tripping over his tongue.

"I expected you'd be in your nightshirt," she said.

He looked down at his wedding attire.

"The wife dresses for the husband," he said.

She frowned. "And he sees no need to please her once he's taken her to the altar?"

Justin smiled. "He pleases her in a different way," he said as he began to unbutton his shirt. The husband makes the woman lose herself in passion. He makes her mindless with desire.

"He can try, I suppose," Fiona said. "But remember, the wife has won him as he has won her. She's not some dairymaid hoping to flatter him into setting her up as mistress. A wife is honest. Perhaps her husband fancies himself a wonderful lover when such is not the case."

Justin wasn't smiling now. "My dear, I've had more than one woman leave my bed satisfied."

"Are you sure?" Fiona asked with a wicked grin. I've heard some women can feign pleasure in such a way that the man is none the wiser. Later, in groups, they laugh at his arrogance."

"And what would you know of good or bad, either way?" he asked. "You've had no experience in the matter."

"And how would you know?" she asked coolly, folding her arms in front of her.

Justin, who was working on undoing his pants, stopped.

"That is no laughing matter," he said. "I expected you to be pure."

"Really?" she asked. "Why do you deserve such when you admit to sullying yourself with more than one woman?"

He looked down, ashamed. "It's differing for men," he said. "How else are we to guide you unless we know what to do?"

"You think these things can't come naturally?" she asked, and walked over to him.

"You may be leader, Justin, but never take me for granted or think that the rules you set for me to not apply to you. We may be married, but keeping my respect will mean more than just giving orders. I expect you to earn my obedience daily."

He looked in her eyes. He did not like being lectured, but he knew she was right. What right did he have to question her chastity when he himself had admitted to having multiple lovers?

"And how would I earn your obedience when you are always seeking to undermine me?' he asked.

Fiona trailed her finger down his chest. "No whither and when," she said. "If I am fair, learn from it. If I am just trying to get my way then make sure I do not."

Justin picked her up and carried her to the bed.

"You expect me to read your mind," he said, putting her on the mattress and joining her there.