Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The King’s Surprise

I’m sitting with Amera in the menagerie. Above our heads, tropical birds are chattering away as they swoop and fly from branch to branch.

It’s been days since I found my song. Days since my episode and days since Helos tucked me into my bed and walked away.

I haven’t seen him since, though I have felt his presence a few times, in the corridors, close to me, but not close enough to see.

From the feel of the people around him, he has either been with the Council or at least dealing with something involving it.

Amera’s wedding is in less than three weeks, and the closer we get, the more anxious she seems to be. And a part of me wonders if she is having regrets.

“So, the flowers I wanted won’t be in bloom in time. And two of my bridesmaids can no longer travel here for the ceremony.” She moans.

“Why not?” I ask.

“There are issues with the Council,” she says almost reluctantly.

“What issues?”

“Just disputes,” she says a little too quickly.

“What disputes?” I ask.

She shakes her head, saying it’s nothing to worry about, and I know better than to push her.

“Your wedding will be perfect,” I say. “Your dress is perfect and whatever flowers you have won’t matter because everyone’s eyes will be on you.”

“Will you be there?” she asks.

My shoulders drop. “I can’t, you know that.”

“But I want you to be. You’re my only friend from my old life. My family almost. I want you there,” she states.

“Amera, it’s your day, it should be about you. If I am there, I will be a distraction. It’s not fair on you and it’s not right.”

“It’s not right that men can’t just control themselves.” She moans.

“Not just men. Women can be just as bad,” I mutter.

She frowns before blushing. “That girl at the auction. What did she do to you?” she asks quietly.

I shrug. “Stripped me, tied me to that table, touched me. No doubt what she did to you.”

She looks away for a second and I realize tears are in her eyes.

“Amera?”

“I’ve never…” she whispers. “I’d never even kissed someone before, not properly. And then she was doing these things to me, making my body feel things I’ve never felt, and I didn’t want it, but she made me do it anyway.”

“I know,” I say, pulling her in and hugging her.

“I’m scared. Of my wedding night. I know Brandar won’t hurt me, won’t force me to do anything because he could have done that the night he bought me, but I’m still scared all the same.”

“Tell him that. He needs to understand,” I say.

“But what if he thinks I’m some sort of freak?” she asks.

“Why would he?” I reply, confused.

“What bride doesn’t want to sleep with their husband on their wedding night?” She gasps.

“If you want it to work, if you want to have a genuine, happy relationship with him, you have to tell him,” I say.

She wipes her tears and then she looks at me. “When did you become such a fountain of wisdom?” she quips and we both laugh.

“I guess I’ve seen enough now to be wise,” I murmur.

“What’s it like?” she asks.

“What’s what like?” I reply.

“Sex.”

I take a deep breath. “If you want it, if your body wants it, then it feels good, really good.”

“Oh,” she says.

“Have you ever…” I hesitate because I don’t want to cross the line, but my mouth has already started spewing the words before my brain has engaged. “Have you ever touched yourself?”

“Like what?”

“Down there, between your thighs,” I state.

She flushes scarlet and looks away.

“Maybe when you’re alone. When no one is around, maybe try. It might make you feel more comfortable about sex in general,” I say delicately.

“How would I know what to do?” she asks.

I shrug. “Use your fingers, explore, play. You’ll know what feels good to you,” I state.

“Okay,” she says, and then we both start giggling like school girls who are embarrassed when in truth neither of us has anything to be embarrassed about.

***

That evening, I’m sitting in my rooms, curled up on the couch, reading a fiction book involving sirens and trying not to scoff at all the inaccuracies when I hear a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I say loudly, wondering who the hell this is.

They couldn’t be anyone I don’t know, or the guards wouldn’t have let them through, but who would be calling at this time? Most of the castle would be down at the Great Hall feasting about now.

I look up, and Helos is there in the doorway.

“You don’t usually knock,” I quip.

His lips turn up into an amused smile. “I thought after last time maybe I should be a bit more cautious of just walking in.”

“You mean because I was naked in the bath?” I say and then curse my stupid mouth for continuously engaging before my brain can think.

He laughs, but I still see it in his eyes. The reaction at the memory of how he found me.

“I wondered if you fancied an adventure?” he says, holding up the cloak he usually puts around me to conceal my body and my hair.

“To the city?”

“Somewhere else,” he says.

“Where?” I ask.

“It’s a surprise.”

“What?” I say, sitting up properly, feeling nervous.

“You’ll like it. Trust me,” he says.

I let out a low breath. Do I trust this man? He has had ample opportunity to attack me, to hurt me, to force me to do all kinds of things, and yet he hasn’t. But just because he hasn’t doesn’t mean he still won’t.

“To do what?” I ask.

“I can’t tell you that either,” he says.

I scoff. “So, you want me to go with you somewhere you won’t say to do something you won’t say either?” I ask, hoping the skepticism shows in my voice as much as I feel it in myself.

“Yes.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Wow. You really do think a lot of yourself.”

His lips curl again. “I’m a king. Of course, I do. Besides, I could simply command you and we both know you would obey,” he says.

“So why don’t you then?” I ask.

“Because I’d much rather you come of your own volition.”

“Fine. Whatever,” I say, standing up, putting the book down.

It’s pointless to argue anyway.

He is right; he can command me and my stupid body would do just as he suggests. At least, this way, I have some semblance of control, and I hope to the gods I don’t regret this.

I wrap my hair up into a bun and tie it into a knot so that it holds itself, and then Helos wraps the cloak around my shoulders before pulling the hood up.

It’s not dark enough for the need of it yet, but clearly, he is anxious to still hide me as we leave the castle.

He then pulls his own hood up and I glance at him. His size, his presence alone marks him for what he is. Any person looking would know that this is King Helos. They would sense his power. Feel his authority oozing off him.

“This way people will know I don’t want to be stopped,” he says, and I nod, realizing my confusion must have shown on my face.

He leads me through the castle, but we don’t take the usual route. Instead, we take a series of back passages, narrow corridors, and winding staircases, and I wonder where the hell we are headed.

When we reach what looks like a stable block and I see a massive horse tacked up and waiting, I start to panic.

“It’s okay,” Helos murmurs, but I shake my head.

“Where are you taking me?” I ask, and even I can hear the rattle in my voice.

“Do you trust me, Kera?” he asks.

My heart is pounding. I feel like a bag of nerves, and I don’t know how to answer because, on one hand, I think I do trust him.

But on the other, I have been let down, hurt, used so many times by men that I don’t know if I can even believe he won’t end up doing the same.

“How about I don’t cuff you this time?” he says. “It’ll be you and me and no one else. We need to ride for at least an hour and then it will all make sense.”

“Where?” I ask.

“Trust me, Kera. You will like this.”

I gulp. Do I have a choice? This king has everything all planned out right down to the damned horse. If I fight, if I try to argue, there is a big chance he will simply toss me over the animal’s back and ride off with me anyway.

“Fine,” I mutter, not looking at him. Not seeing the way his eyes light up.

He lifts me up into the saddle with both my legs tucked to one side, and then he sits behind me. I can feel his body press into mine, and I try my damned hardest not to think about it.

About his muscles, about the power radiating off him, about the feel of his warm breath as it hits the back of my neck.

His arms wrap around me, and I almost let out a gasp, but I can’t fight the shudder my body makes and I know he feels it.

There’s no way he didn’t.

He kicks the horse on and we walk quietly out of the yard through a gatehouse, where all the guards bow as we pass.

I know they cannot see my face, that they do not know who is sitting there by their king, but it feels like they know, like they have guessed it.

We ride in silence the entire time.

Once we are beyond the city walls, Helos kicks the horse into a canter and I hate to admit it, but there is something exhilarating about it, about being in this king’s arms as he rides away with me into the night.

We ride for over an hour and then we come to a stop.

I look around; there is literally nothing to see but some hills and a few trees.

Helos gets off the horse and then carefully pulls me down as I frown at him.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“It will make sense in a bit,” he says before taking the reins and tying his horse to the branches of the nearest tree.

He takes my arm and leads me up through the hillside. It’s an easy climb; the rocks about are small enough to step over, and we come to stand in front of what looks like a dark, cavernous opening.

“For full effect, you need to be blindfolded,” he states, pulling a strip of cloth from his pocket, and I look from the material in his hand to his face.

“Seriously?” I say.

“Trust me, Kera,” he says.

I sigh because we both know he’s going to do it anyway, so what the hell.

He wraps the fabric around my head, tying it off just above where my bun sits, and I can’t help but put my fingers to my face and feel where it presses in.

A part of me is enjoying this, though. A part of me, if I admit it, is finding this way more exhilarating than I want it to be.

He takes my hand, leading me on, and gingerly I take my steps. I can sense as we walk further into the cave. I can tell the vague structure of it from the sound of our feet echoing as we move further inside.

“Just a little further,” Helos says, and I can hear both amusement and anticipation in his voice.

He’s enjoying this too, I realize. This moment.

Enjoying that right this second, I am reliant on him to guide me, to stop me from taking any false steps, and to catch me if I do.

As the minutes pass, I become aware of something. I can smell it. It’s earthy, primal even, but it’s there. And then I can hear it too.

The trickles. The sound of water slipping down the rocks, splashing onto something hard and something wet. The air is so damp around us that my skin tingles. I’m covered in goosebumps.

I don’t know what this place is, or what is going on, but my body feels on fire; my senses are responding to every second of just being here.

My breath is racing. I can feel my chest rising and falling so rapidly. I’m so close to just ripping this blindfold off and letting my eyes see what this is.

“Are you ready?” Helos asks. His hands are on my shoulders. He’s standing in front of me.

“Yes,” I gasp, my voice heady with expectation, with desire too.

Helos’s hands reach round and I feel as he yanks off the knot, and the fabric falls from my face. I blink rapidly, looking up and meeting his eyes, and then I look around.

We’re in a cave. Helos has lit a series of torches that he’s splayed around the ground so that we can see. We’re standing on the edge of some sort of path, and below us—gods, below is ~water~.

A pool of it. A lagoon. I can see the water trickling down from the rocks now. I can see it flow into a stream and then splash as it fills the basin.

I don’t have any words. I don’t know how to describe what I’m feeling. What my head is thinking.

I want to strip off, to throw myself into this expanse so badly I realize my hands are clutching at the fabric of my dress as if I’m about to rip it shreds.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“I…,” I stammer looking at him. “It’s incredible.”

He smiles. “It’s not the sea. It’s not a river. But I thought it might come closer to it than just a bath.”

“I can swim?” I ask.

He laughs at my question. “I would not have brought you all this way just to prevent you from getting in, that is if you want to.”

“Want to?” I cry, starting to undo the back of my dress, forgetting that he is standing there in front of me. “Try and stop me.”

He looks away as if he’s trying to give me some sort of privacy, as if he hasn’t seen my naked body so many times before.

I let the dress drop and just as quickly pull off my underwear. I don’t care in this moment. I don’t care if I am crossing some sort of line. If I should have been more cautious even.

I want to swim. I want to feel at least this bit of freedom.

I dive in.

I’m not scared of hitting the bottom. I can already sense how deep this water is, and it’s so deliciously deep. As the water engulfs me, I let out a moan because it reveals its other secret.

It’s not fresh water. Somehow, this is salt water.

Real salt water.

From the sea.

I close my eyes, feel this water’s journey, and I can see it now, the tiny tributary of water right by the coast that at high tide flows far enough to eventually create this expanse.

I swim deeper. I swim right to the bottom. I explore the cave, I pirouette, I somersault.

The creature inside of me is cooing, she’s laughing. She’s enjoying this as much as me, and together, for a while, we just indulge in our adventure. We just enjoy this moment.

But I’ll admit, I’m still so aware that there is a king up there, that above me, Helos is waiting.

And I already feel like I know where this night is headed now. What this king will claim in payment for this delight.

Only for once, I don’t feel fear about what’s to come. I think I ~want~ it. I think I’m ready now.

Helos has clearly made his mind about me. He’s come to his decision. And tonight, in this cave, he’s going to show me exactly what it is.