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Athena
I tugged at my collar, my head dizzy, everything around me tilted sideways, the heat was growing, which was practically speaking impossible within these four words.
“Greetings Your highness” a voice greeted and sauntered off, I could barely make out who it was, my senses were getting duller, I stumbled on something and felt myself next to a wall, my body got stuck to it, relaxing for barely a minute on the coolness before that uncomfortable feeling came back.
I resumed my journey, I had to get to my room, at least while I still had my senses intact.
I dragged my feet across the long halls, different scents wafted through my nose all at once, booze, sweat, lilacs, honey, cheese, what the hell was going on.
The first layer of my cloth fell off, I felt better, I caught a door by the corner of my eyes, enter first, consequences later.
The door clicked immediately I stumbled in, the noise drowned out, gone - an effect of these walls.
I dragged my feet to what looked like an impossibly comfortable bed. I could barely make it out, but the figure looked like one at least. I fell on it, seeking some sort of reprieve.
But that uncomfortable feeling was there, my nipples strained against the thin layers of fabric, the clothes stuck to my body like glue, I drew hard against it, trying to get it off my skin, but it was especially tight, Sara made sure of that.
A whimper slipped past my lips, my head felt like something was clawing at it, my skin got hotter, I rolled on each sides of the bed, hoping for comfort but it felt particularly impossible, my hand made contact with my breast through the corset barely able to cover it, a strained groan left my lips.
My boots had flown off in a different direction, with the possibility of touching myself gone, I settled for rubbing my now tender skin across the pillows, the edge of the bed, anything that could offer friction.
I was beyond gone, tears streamed down my eyes, my hair felt like nails on my scalp.
The door creaked open, then footsteps before it stopped, the hairs on my arm stood, I could feel eyes on me, watching. I could barely make out what was right not to talk of shame at the possibly obscene setting.
“Who are you?” a deep voice that sent shivers to my skin asked,
I shot up from the bed only to bump into a hard skin, the contact sent electricity and sparks down my spine, I couldn't sense it well, but I could feel it. “Mate” the words were barely a whisper, more like a prayer
Hot breath fanned down on my skin, honey, musk, cedar, all clouded my nose. My hands were on him before I thought about it, a grunt slipped past his lips.
“Please,” I whimpered
“What did you do to me?” He remained unmoving, his breath hitched, his heart raced, the closeness only increased the burning sensation I felt. My body was on fire now, if I thought tears were spilling through my eyes, these ones burned.
I pulled on the two piece, tugging with as much strength that I could gather, the body beside me didn’t seem to be in a far better position, his breath was rapid like he was trying hard to restrain himself.
He took a step back, I winced from the loss, following through instantly, he dodged, my body met the cold air, where his scent lingered, a hand caught me just before my nose kissed the tile, I strained against the hand, a lewd sound escaping my lips.
He stiffened, using that opportunity I pounced on him we both fell with me straddling him, that did the trick. Lips smashed into mine, hot and fervent.
I struggled to keep up, sinking deeper into him, the corset was gone in a matter of seconds, flung somewhere like paper, I fumbled through his belt, helping him loosen up
All this we tried to do while our lips were still connected, every rational thought, training about consequences, morals, all of it flew past the window. I was lost in the feeling of getting comfort and healing from the strains of my body.
The rest of the night was a mixture of grunts and groans, bodies joining as one, lewd sounds, loud moans, sweats mixed with cum all night long, I felt him knot me through the fog, “No” I resisted weakly.
Everything else was a blur and by the time I lost myself to the darkness my body hummed with satisfaction.
Morning lights tried to pull me out of the darkness, a groan escaped my lips I turned, seeking comfort, something hard pressed down on me restricting my movement
“What the fuck,” I grunted, its way too early for all thus, something pulled me up, I felt my body fall against something warm and hard.
I moaned from the feeling, when did Mr cuddles get so comfortable? I snuggled deeper into it, wait, my brain did a 360, since when could Mr cuddles breath?
I forced my eyes to blink open, but it squinted shot instantly, a blinding headache hit “What the hell,”
“Stop squirming” a deep voice groaned
My head tinged, my eyes shot open, ignoring the hammering in my head, I was met with the most beautiful pair of silver eyes I had ever seen.
I tumbled backwards putting a considerable distance between us, he leaned backwards, brows raised, lips slightly curled
“Who are you?”
RowanHe was already in the east hall when I arrived.Sitting at the far end of the table like he owned it, one ankle crossed over his knee, a glass of something dark in his hand at eleven in the morning. That was Rurik. Always already there, always already comfortable, always making sure you noticed both things.We shared a father. That was the beginning and end of what we shared.He looked up when I walked in, smiled with all his teeth. “Brother.”“Rurik.” I pulled out a chair on my side of the table and sat. Didn’t pour a drink. Kept my hands visible and still, an old habit from negotiation training. Show them your hands, show them nothing’s coming, let them relax just enough.“Congratulations are in order I hear.” He swirled his glass. “The runaway princess has returned. And with a gift.”“Watch your mouth.”He raised both hands, the picture of innocence. “I only meant the child. A daughter, yes? She has your eyes, they say.”“Who says.”“People talk.” He shrugged. “Palaces talk.
AthenaI made a mistake.Not a catastrophic one, nothing that couldn’t be managed, but I let my guard down for approximately forty minutes in the east grounds watching my daughter befriend a wolf, and now I was paying for it by standing in my room thinking about what Rowan had said.I’m bad at this. I’m working on it.Six years ago he wouldn’t have said that. Six years ago he wouldn’t have crouched down to her level in a corridor and answered questions about wolves for twenty minutes with the patience of someone who actually had it and not just the performance of it.People changed. I knew that, had lived it myself, had changed so completely from the girl who’d broken a bond on her knees spitting blood that sometimes I barely recognized her.That didn’t mean I had to do anything with the information.I changed out of the east grounds clothes and sat at the small desk by the window with my sketchbook. Drawing helped me think, always had, my brain settled when my hands were doing someth
RowanVera had apologized.I hadn’t told her to. Lake had, apparently, on his own initiative, which meant I was going to have to have a conversation with him about overstepping, except that the outcome had been fine so the conversation was going to be difficult to frame correctly.I’d watched it happen from across the dining hall. Athena walking over, sitting down, the whole thing done quietly and without spectacle, no raised voice, no scene. Just her, a chair, and whatever she’d said that had made Vera’s face do what it did.Then Vera crossing the room twenty minutes later to apologize and Athena accepting it like she was signing off on a document.Lake slid into the seat across from me. “She handled that well.”“I saw.”“Better than expected.”“I expected her to handle it well.” That wasn’t entirely true but I wasn’t going to say that out loud.“Rurik wants a meeting.” Lake said, moving on with the efficiency of someone who knew when not to linger on a topic.“Of course he does.”“T
AthenaI found the dining hall on my own.Took two wrong turns and ended up in what I think was a weapons storage room before I got my bearings, but I found it. Small victories.It was early enough that I’d expected it to be mostly empty. It was not mostly empty. Maybe thirty wolves seated at various points across the long tables, the low hum of conversation that stopped in sections as I walked in, like someone turning down a volume dial one notch at a time.I kept walking.Chase was behind me, Amara’s hand in mine, and I could feel her looking around with that wide open curiosity of hers that hadn’t yet learned to be self conscious. I envied her that.I found a spot at one of the side tables, not the head, not the far end, somewhere in the middle that said I’m not hiding but I’m not performing either. Chase sat across from me, Amara beside me, and I picked up the menu card on the table and looked at it like thirty pairs of eyes weren’t doing what they were doing.Food came. We ate. A
AthenaThe east wing was nice.I hated that it was nice.I’d been prepared to find something to complain about, some deliberate slight in the room choice, something that would confirm what I already believed about being here. Instead I walked into a suite with high ceilings and wide windows overlooking a garden, furniture that was heavy and dark and clearly expensive, and a connecting room that had already been set up for a child.Amara walked into it and stopped dead.There was a small bed with carved wolves on the headboard. A window seat. A shelf with books on it that someone had clearly placed there recently because the spines were too neat, too deliberate.“Mama.” Her voice came out hushed.“I see it.”“There are wolves on my bed.”“I see that too.”She turned to me with an expression that was trying very hard not to be delighted and failing completely. Then she ran and threw herself on the bed and the stuffed rabbit flew somewhere and I stood in the doorway watching her and felt
RowanShe arrived on the third day.I knew before anyone told me. Something shifted in the air around midday, some low pull at the base of my skull, faint enough that I could have ignored it if I’d wanted to. I didn’t examine it too closely. Just set down the report I’d been reading and looked at the window.Lake appeared in the doorway twelve minutes later. “She’s at the gate.”“I know.”He opened his mouth.“Tell the council the meeting is postponed.” I stood. “And keep Rurik away from the east wing.”“He’s going to ask questions.”“Let him ask.” I straightened my jacket. “Just make sure he asks them from a distance.”The courtyard was half full when I got there. Word moved fast in a palace, it always had, and I could see the staff finding reasons to be near windows, near doorways. I ignored them. Walked to the front steps and stood there with my hands clasped behind my back and waited.The car came through the gate and stopped.Chase got out first. I’d known about Chase, had him lo
AthenaDami cried.I hadn’t expected that. Dami was twenty two and sharp-mouthed and acted like nothing touched her, and she stood in the middle of the emptied shop with her arms folded and tears running down her face like she wasn’t even aware they were happening.“Stop it.” I said.“I’m not doing
RowanLake wouldn’t stop talking.That was the thing about him, he filled silence like it personally offended him, and the drive back from the human quarter had been forty minutes of him cycling through every possible angle of what had just happened while I sat in the passenger seat and said nothin
Six years.I had turned every stone in three kingdoms, burned through favors I’d spent a decade accumulating, and she had been here. Here. In the human quarter, behind a glass door with her name stenciled in gold ink like she hadn’t dismantled two kingdoms with her disappearing act.I stood across
Athena“Useless”“She's a disgrace to the royal family,”“A wolf less hybrid” “She caused the death of her mother.”“A curse.”“A fat one.”Nameless faces whispered around me, drowning me in their curses.“No, No, I didn't, I'm not” I protested weakly against the sea of voices drowning out mine.







