Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (39 page)

She just smiled.

“I should get back to Coral and find out what’s happening,” Glory told them, looking for a way to get down.

Jimm dropped off his branch and held his hands out to her. She gracefully accepted his assistance and slid down to his waiting hand
s. He steadied her and blushed.

“Is that a beard I see growing in?” Fredrick asked his son.

“A bit of one,” Jimm said scratchin
g at the fuzz on his chin.

“I see that. Good job.”

Pearl looked at Fredrick for an explanation of their strange conversation. He whispered, “Pipe smoke.”

Pearl looked between Glory and Jimm and back to Fredrick. He shrugged and smiled. She frowned. That wouldn’t be good. She was betrothed to Jimm’s older brother, who had the throne when Fredrick passed on. She was
to be queen with Tomas as king.

Jimm escorted Glory out of the gardens leaving Pearl
with Frederick. He watched her. She looked
like she had a lot on her mind. He held out his hands to her but instead of lifting her down he grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she yelled, laughing.

“Just remembering
old times. Though, either I’m smaller or you are bigger.”

He carried her like that, kicking and laughing to the garden entrance then placed her on her feet. “Is everyone dispatched and on duty?” she asked, straightening her robes and brushing
her hair back, still laughing.

“Yes.”

“Good,” she told him. “It’s time we got locked away.”

“Is it?” he asked, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Library?”

“Wi
ll we be disturbed?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

“My room then,” she said. “Post a few guards and tell them I’m not allowed to run under any circumstances.”

“Done.”

Pearl became angry. Then she became angry that she was angry. She knew that something was trying to control her. Trying to draw her away from Fredrick. And when she looked at him she saw that look of insecurity in his eyes. It just made her
angrier
at whoever or whatever was trying to drive her away.

“Fredrick,” she whispered while they walked down the hallway. “Please listen to me without reaction.”

“Yes?” he questioned.

“Do you remember how we could see the puppies and the boys
in the arch
?”

“Yes.”

“It’s happening to us. And you know that feeling you have right now, that I don’t care about you, that you are losing me?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not real, is it?”

He didn’t respond for long moment
s. “No, it isn’t,” he breathed.

“Nowhere is safe.”

In Pearl’s room with a guard posted at the door, she sat on the small bed. Fredrick sat on a chair, his head in his hands. They were silent, not knowing what to do. She
felt an urge to fight with him. S
he fel
t an urge to run. S
he felt an urge to make love to him so strongly that she wanted to cry. And it al
l just made her angry.

Fredrick looked so alone. He was determined to make her his, to make her submit to his wishes. Because he knew she didn’t want
him, that she was just going to run away again. She had to be his queen. She had to love him.

Pearl held out her hand. He stood and approached. She lay down and invited him to join her. They lay face to face, both insecure, both torn on her tiny bed.

Pearl told him in whispers, “Something is trying to pull us apart. It isn’t right. Do you feel it?”

He nodded. “The only time I feel myself lately is when I’m with you. Carrying you on my shoulder, watching you bark orders, when you kiss me or hold my hand.”

“Not when we fight,” she said. “I want to tell you everything I am feeling. So you can understand why I sometimes run. I am being forced to run. That is not me. Coral gave me a tongue lashing tonight for not being myself and that’s when I realized what was happening.”

He nodded. “I’m beginning to understand.”

She placed her hand on his face next to hers and smiled. “I really do care about you. I always have.”

“Good,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it.

“I have given myself to you several times now and yet you have not believed it. And then I wouldn’t believe it. And we’d be torn apart again.”

“Yes.”

“I want to tell you about my past,” she started. “When Brother Karl found me I lived on the streets. I had no parents. I never knew my parents. I assumed my mother was one of the local whores who worked down by the pubs in Brynntown. I slept with dogs and ate scraps. People took care of me if they saw I needed something but I didn’t have anyone in my life. I would have ended up like my mother or worse if I had stayed there. Brother Karl gave me a new life. She and Amias have been the parents I never had, better than anything I could have imagined for myself. They taught me love and what it meant to band together. To fight if I needed to.”

Fredrick watched her eyes intently.

“When you asked me to be yours so many times it felt nice. It made me feel special. But in my gut I always knew I was a street rat. A street rat cannot be a queen. A street rat
cannot
even walk into a castle with her head held high. I was able to do that. But to be queen is beyond what I can be.”

Fredrick protested. “You are the queen,” he told her, with a tear in his eye. “You have been the queen since the day you put on that blue robe and stood at my side as my friend. You are the warrior queen who takes care of her people, whether they
are
children like Darius or whores or Marshalls or Kings.”

“I am not destined to be queen. That is Glory’s job.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because she’s Glory!” she told him. “She has wanted to be queen since she was five years old she told me. It’s in her blood. She has been hanging onto Tomas since she found out she was betrothed.”

“And yet she is now swinging from a tree with Jimm.”

Pearl had no argument. Instead she kissed Fredrick softly on the lips. “I want to be yours,”
she breathed against his cheek.

“I want you.”

“If I marry you I am queen and I am stubborn. I don’t want to take on that role.”

“You already have.”

“No, I am your god-
smiter
. I am an advisor, a general for your people. A queen is a pretty trophy who sits beside you in curls and frills and has no input except what to serve at dinner parties
and squeeze out heirs for you
.”

“And that’s what you think Glory would do as queen? She’d be fluff next to Tomas?” he asked her seriously. “I want to tell you why I betrothed her to him. He is weak. He is incapable of being responsible. I gave him a little freedom and he got wobbly on my good ale and sick off pipe and insulted the one good thing in his life. He ruined the respect his father and brother might have had for him. Glory, beyond the frills and the lace and the curls, is one hell of a strong woman who is going to snap him into shape. I won’t accept a queen in this land who won’t stand by her man and make the most of him. If that means taking over in his stead then that’s what it means.”

“And that’s the real you,” she smiled. “Do you see what I mean?”

H
e nodded.

“When we get strong in our convictions, tell what we feel, we are ourselves,” she said and stroked his lips with her fingertip. “I haven’t wanted to be queen so I’ve been so torn. I want to be yours. I want to be your wife even. But it is difficult for me to get past a street rat being queen. If I don’t marry you and simply be yours…”

She shook her head. Fredrick kissed her cheek. “What is it?”

“Then I am no better than m
y mother,” she whispered sadly.

Fredrick grabbed her into a tight hug and held her as she sobbed. “So that’s why you kiss me so sweetly and run away.”

She nodded against him. He released her and took her face in his hands. He kissed her with love and passion, allowing her to pull away when she needed to. With tears beading on her eyelashes she leaned forward. She slid her lips across his. She tilted her head sideways and smiled into his eyes.

“Can we get married?” he asked. “Right this minute.”

She giggled. Pearl’s expression changed to one of contemplation. She whispered, “I didn’t want to run that time.”

“Good,” he said, kissing her again. Pearl melted into his arms and into the kiss. His lips wandered to her cheek, her ear, her neck and as her eyes glazed over and her back arched at his touch she heard
Pearl.

His mouth stopped. He lay over her, listening as though he heard it too.

Pearl Faith Dog Doran in the eyes and hearts of the gods do you take
Fredrick Pol Stener Curden as your life mate?

“Yes,” Pearl sobbed looking into Fredrick’s eyes.

Fredrick Pol Stener Curden in the eyes and hearts of the gods do you take Pearl Faith Dog Doran as your life mate?

“Yes,” Fredrick breathed in shock.

You are wed. Pearl, you have no time. You must push aside your fears and take him now. There is no ti…

And the voice was gone
.

“That was her,” she told him. “The goddess.”

“We are wed?” he asked.

“I think so,” she laughed.

“What are we doing in here then?” he asked, jumping up and pulling her up by the hand. “I need to test out my secret passage.”

“That’s my secret passage,” she said, following him
to the small door in the wall.

They emerged into his suite, a grand room with a giant bed, a large fireplace and beautiful furniture. A writing desk sat in the corner. He l
ed her to the bed and they sat.

“Are you alright with this?” he asked her, concerned. “We can wait.”

“She said we couldn’t. I don’t want to. I just got married. I want to be with you.”

Pearl jumped over to the middle of the bed and pulled him by the hand to join her. She kissed him like she’d never kissed him before, driving a shudder through him, making him pull away to breathe. She smiled and pulled him back.
No time… Hurry.

A new desperation filled them. Pearl felt her robes pull away from her as his mouth found her skin. She called out unintelligibly when his beard brushed against her breast. He pulled one of her legs over his hip and moved closer. She grabbed h
is back with her grasping hand.

Take him! Now!

And she did. She cried out and b
uried her face in his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Tears fell from Pearl’s eyes as she smiled at him and relaxed in relief. She moved with him and felt him tense up. She pulled him to her and let her tongue taste his neck and shoulder. She rolled over onto him. She laid her head against his chest. She listened to his breathing and his heart as they found their own rhythm together. One of his hands balanced her hip. The other touched her back in soft strokes. Fredrick’s breathing became labored. He looked into her eyes through half-closed lids. His entire body tensed under her, shaking with effort. She held onto him tightly with every scrap of her body until he relaxed, rested back into the bed. His hands drew patterns up her back and she shivered, laughin
g.

“What is this??” Vunn scree
ched, staring through the arch.

Caris jumped at his outburst. She knelt down in front of the Well, watching the scene before her. She had heard her. Finally. It was satisfying. The desperation was forced, but now that the initial deed was done they could relax and explore and have fun. Caris watched as Pearl allowe
d her man to love her. Finally.

“This isn’t over!” he shouted.

“They are mine,” she told him. “Leave them alone. You said if she could resist you that would be it.”

“No, now I get to rip their hearts out.”

“Leave them alone,” she told him. “They are too busy with each other to care about us.”

“We’ll see.”

“Do you mind?” she snarled at him, as he stepped in front of her. “I want to get some enjoyment out of them before you destroy them. She’s about to learn what he can do for her.”

“I’ll let you watch,” he said stepping aside, his own arousal evident. “Then you can please me.”

Caris cried inwardly as she watched the little one in love. She moved with her man in a way Caris could only imagine. Vunn was brutal, careless. Their labored breathing became cries as her man pleased her flesh with his mouth and hands. She rejoiced as her little one became a woman shuddering in his stron
g arms. He kissed her so gently. A
tear fell from Caris’ eye.