The Duty of a Queen Read online

  She held out her hand to Jonas and he came to her, his body already hard and waiting. This, she knew, was not the time for lingering touches. There was an urgency beyond just the needs of their bodies. They would have a lifetime together, the three of them, to learn all there was to know about each other. At the moment, they did not have the luxury.

  Jonas sighed as he sank into her and Astrid closed her eyes, letting her body absorb the sensation of fullness. She was wet, but there had been no other preparation and he was so thick. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, muffling the moan that wanted to escape. She did not know if she could express her pleasure at feeling Jonas inside her once more.

  “Do not hold back,” Oliver said softly.

  Astrid felt the prince's hand brush over her hair and she opened her eyes to find him looking down at her.

  “We three are joined. There is no jealousy among us. We desire only that which is good for the other.”

  She saw then that he was touching himself, slowly moving his hand as he sat on the edge of the bed. Then, Jonas began to thrust inside her, and she no longer wished to think. She had told Oliver that she trusted him. Now she would show it. As Jonas filled her over and over again, she let herself go. She moaned as the familiar sparks began to shoot through her body. His mouth covered hers and she drank of him, their tongues twisting together even as their bodies joined.

  As a pair of fingers danced across her breast, Astrid gasped, realizing that they were not Jonas's fingers, but Oliver's. He gently pinched her nipple and she tore her mouth from Jonas's, crying out as her release came. The prince continued to pull on her sensitive flesh, sending shivers of pleasure through her, and Jonas's lips trailed down her neck. As he began to suck on the skin at the base of her throat, Astrid shuddered, a new wave washing over her. She dug her nails into his back, the new marks joining the old.

  “Astrid.” Jonas's voice was strained.

  Oliver understood what was happening before Astrid did. “You may finish inside her, as I will.”

  Astrid did not want Jonas to refuse, and so she bit down on his shoulder. He shouted her name as he thrust deeply, his seed spilling into her as she held him to her. They stayed joined for a moment as she worried the flesh in her mouth until she knew his skin would bear the evidence of her mouth for many days to come.

  She shivered as he withdrew from her, his softening shaft caressing her sensitive walls. Even as he rolled off of her, she was reaching out for Oliver. He slid easily into her, the difference in his manhood enough to stretch her in a new way. She moaned as her body immediately responded. The feelings that had been abating suddenly returned, sending a new flood of sensation over her. It was as if fire licked across her skin, only it did not hurt.

  She ran her hands up Oliver's muscular arms to the back of his neck, pulling him down so that their mouths touched. She felt his surprise that she had initiated the kiss, and smiled, parting his lips with her tongue. She explored his mouth slowly even as he moved inside her. He started when Jonas's hand took Astrid's and placed it on his back, but he made no move to protest.

  “Mark him, my princess,” Jonas's voice was soft in her ear. “Make him ours.”

  As Oliver rolled his hips, making contact with that same spot inside Astrid, her body stiffened and she raked her nails down the prince's back. He yanked his mouth from hers, his cry mingling with hers as the pleasure took them. He pulsed inside her, his seed mingling with Jonas's. She tightened around him, drawing out their release as their bodies shook and her world became gray.

  She woke not much later, wrapped in her lovers' arms. Her back was against Jonas, his familiar form curled over hers. Oliver faced her, his arms wrapped around both she and Jonas, three sets of legs entwined.

  “We will need to dress and go to the deck soon.” Oliver broke the silence. “My father will be waiting for our arrival.”

  The thought that had been teasing at the back of Astrid's mind from the moment Oliver had told her of his father's villainy came forward now. If the ceremony of three had not happened, she did not think she would have had the courage to speak, but she knew now that the prince could be trusted, and that she wanted to help him.

  “My prince,” she began slowly. “Before, when you spoke of your father, you had said that you would have killed him, given the chance.”

  Oliver's expression grew serious. “It would have been rash, and most likely cost me my life, but yes, that I what I had intended. My father is an evil man, but he does have his friends. To eliminate my father and survive, one must eliminate the nobles to whom he is closest, a feat that I am sad to say I am unable to accomplish.”

  Astrid felt Jonas's arms flex around her waist, and she knew that he understood her intentions. It had always been that way between them, knowing the other's thoughts.

  “If I could provide means to do that which needs to be done, would you accept?”

  Oliver studied her for a moment before giving his answer.

  ***

  The people truly loved their prince, Astrid had seen immediately. They had greeted she and Jonas with love and acceptance, not once rejecting their arrangement. Everywhere they traveled, the people cheered and shouted accolades. Jonas had even said that the people here loved Oliver as the People of the Grey Stones loved Astrid.

  Now, as she stood between her husbands and looked out over the sea of people beneath them, she knew that this land and hers would flourish under their new king. It had taken the full change of a moon, but she had kept her pledge to her prince. Six days had passed since the king and his nobles had succumbed to an unknown illness, and it was time for the heir to be crowned.

  Astrid and Jonas linked hands as they watched the crown be lowered onto Oliver's head. The crowd below roared in approval. They did not know it yet, but they would soon have another reason to celebrate. Astrid's free hand pressed against her belly. It was still flat and she had not yet received confirmation, but she knew the truth. While there would be other children, the two lives that grew inside her now would bring together these two nations. She could almost see them, one fair-haired, the other with locks the color of a raven's wing. Her sons.

  It was odd, she thought, how something that she had believed would rob her of everything she had ever wanted, had led her to what she truly desired. This, she thought, was only the beginning.

  THE END