The Reason for Marriage

In the royal palace that became his own, locked away from the eyes of the world, he began to take her more roughly. It felt instinctive and natural and she responded in kind, pushing her hips into his to match his increased speed and intensity. His manhood felt like the only thing in the world to her; even his breath on her lips and at her neck was fading into nothingness at the feeling of him filling her. Wasn’t there a magic that could stop time, and keep them here, panting and swearing and soaking the sheets with what they shared? Wasn’t there a magic that could stop Amethan as it was and end the world while he was holding her like this?

At that moment, a whisper broke out between her lips.

“Ha, it feels so good…”

It was all he needed to hear to move into another gear altogether. His body raised before he took the back of her thigh with one hand and pushed it up towards her body. The new angle eclipsed the feeling she had felt before, as his shaft entered further into her than she had even imagined it could. He was as close as he could be to her now and she had to muster all she could to not scream in his ear at the feeling of it.

In the Queen’s Palace, she felt so indifferent to the world of pleasure as she was preoccupied with her work, while now she was explored completely by him. He hooked her leg over his shoulder and moved to push her other leg upward to join it and she obliged him. Her two thin ankles casually hung on his shoulders while he held her waist with both hands. She couldn’t be more at his mercy, but there was no twisting away this time. She could feel him speeding up even further, close to his finish, and that spurred her to her own even quicker.

“Ah, ah… Aah!”

He throbbed inside her with one final pulse and she felt the liquid burst into her, his hot semen filling any gap that his shaft had managed to leave for it. His speed did not decrease as he thrusted, his moans louder as he emptied his essence into her, more than she knew he could have had in his body when they started. Her own orgasm came as he did and her eyes rolled back, her spine arched and her fingers white from gripping the sheets. This was it, she thought, the moment she would stop time herself to preserve.

He took a deep breath through his groans and fell over her slender body, feeling the joy rising to the top of his head. He embraced her, trembling, and kissed her forehead. It was over, but neither of them wanted to leave this position, him softening inside her and the waves still coming. He raised his head and kissed the tip of her nose.

“Sleep tight.”

Iveca nodded without hesitation. Her vision was blurry as her eyelids already became heavy.

“Don’t ever leave me alone, okay? Just stay with me…”

His strange, desperate voice hovered in her ears. She barely felt him leave her body before her eyes closed, and the night fell.

***

Awakened by thirst, Iveca looked around the room. She felt the weight of Daniel’s arm over her and lifted it gently, before sliding out of the bed. The room was bathed in the moonlight now, casting shadows over the neat arrangements.

She spotted a jug of water on the desk next to the bed and went to it. Pouring out a glass she gulped it back gratefully. There was no denying that the intimate act was thirsty work.

There was something that caught her eye on the neatly arranged desk as she drank. Iveca glanced back at Daniel, to see he was still asleep with his head turned to the other side. She carefully put down the glass of water and pulled out a conspicuous-looking card among the books. She turned it over in her hand and unfolded it, before inspecting it. Rounded letters were embedded in the card, the unfamiliar handwritten message short.

“Happy birthday, Daniel. I truly hope you are happy today. – E. J.”

Iveca held her breath and folded the card again, putting it back in the same place at the correct angle.

“There was a woman he loved in the past.”

Like magic, Anriq’s words came to mind.

She walked back across the room and laid back in his bed. Daniel, who noticed her presence, began to hold her in his arms. She felt his heartbeat, slow and soft and relaxed.

“You were just a Queen that was going to be used.”

E.J. The pen he carried close to his chest, the note…

Even at the touch of his embrace on her, she laid stiff and turned her back. All of a sudden, the pleasure and intensity of what they had before snapped back to cold reality. A political marriage and sex to bear him a successor. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she failed to return to the warmth of sleep.