When The Mad Emperor Suddenly Becomes Sweet

“Your Majesty, where are you hurt?” She asked urgently.

“Water… I need water,” Lucius mumbled in reply. Freya scanned his body from top to toe. He was covered in mud and his clothes were soaked in his blood. She ran to the burrow and collected water in her hands. Running back to him carefully, she inched her fingers in his cold mouth. “Drink,” she instructed softly. He drank the droplets from her hands slowly but wasn’t able to drink fully and spilled the rest.

“You have to drink more water,” she prodded at the King again. She assumed he would have been poisoned too if he were facing the same men Gemini did. She brought more water for him, streaming water between his lips. He drank slowly, and Freya was careful not to give him too much lest he choked on it.

She then realized he was soaked through and he would catch a cold along with the poison that wracked through his body. That would be too much to handle, even for a man like him. She looked back at the leather bag she had brought along and sighed with relief. She set to work the clothes off of him and dressed him in the warm dry clothes she’d packed. By the time she was done, she felt small trickles of sweat running down her back and her temples.

She looked around, hoping to find a way to make a fireplace in the burrow and warm the both of them. She regretted not paying attention to Archer when he’d offered to teach but she couldn’t do anything about it now so she resorted to cleaning Lucius’ face, neck, and hands with a damp cloth.

Soon, the sky darkened and the world became quiet, only the sounds of the nightlife remaining. Freya was just about to nod off when she heard the sound of a horse running through the land behind her. She stiffened, looking for the source as she hid behind a tree. She soon saw him, a rider with unfamiliar colors and an aggressive air around him trotted by with his horse. Freya knew he was one of the enemies and remained hidden. After a while, she crept back to her hiding place to the King, careful not to make a noise. She’d waited a while before coming back but she was still afraid the rider might come back. Sensing her arrival, Lucius moaned loudly. “No, no quiet,” Freya hissed and she leaned to him. “Your Majesty, you need to remain quiet,” she said again but the King did not oblige, his moans growing louder.

Panicking, Freya looked at the man before her, fear of being caught by the hostile man gripping her like a cage. “I’m going to regret this,” She thought and covered his mouth with hers quickly. He sensed her on his lips and pulled her closer, his lips encompassing hers completely. Freya’s mind went blank, all thoughts wiped out as she felt the man’s soft lips nibble her own. Heat surged through her body and she trembled against the King. She struggled against him, but his hands had found their way around her arms, holding her tight as he kissed her.

“What is going on,” She wailed in her mind, her fingers gripping him. His eyes snapped open and she flew away. “We- we weren’t kissing, it was just a touch- you were being loud!” Freya rambled on, too featherbrained to make a complete sentence. She hid her face behind her hands, her cheeks burning.

Lucius dragged her back to him, kissing her neck with slow tender kisses. Her breathing quickened and she moaned out slowly, “Your Majesty…”

“I missed you,” He spoke, his voice deep. Freya paused, her mind reeling. Was he thinking about someone else, did he confuse her for another? She pushed her forehead away from his gently and watched him as he fell asleep again, his head on a makeshift pillow she’d made for him.

He looked content in his sleep, but she was not. Freya found herself fuming as she walked away from him and sat in a corner. She placed cold hands on her heated face. “He is just delusional from the poison in his body, get it together Freya,” She commanded herself. She willed her brain to forget what had happened.

After a while, she went back to check on him, repeating her routine, and cleaned his body with a wet rag. Thunder cried out in the background and she jumped her heart hammering. Rain soon followed afterward, and she realized the search party wouldn’t be able to find them in this weather. The smell of ozone found its way to Freya as the thunder continued to strike. Despite trying everything, Freya had not gotten over her fear of thunder and lightning. She brought Lucius’ hand to her face, gripping it for comfort. It was the first time after so long that she was sharing such a night with someone else.

“What? Freya isn’t afraid of ghosts, but fears the rain?” She heard Ruth’s teasing voice speak to her. Her thoughts trailed back to her memories of the orphanage. It had been a day like that day, torrents of rain crashing down around them. Ruth had grabbed her hand, teasing her.

She smiled at the memory sadly and gripped Lucius’s cold hand. Pressing it slowly to help with the circulation, she watched his beautiful face stuck in a frown in his sleep. She yawned suddenly, her body spent. She’d spent the entire day without rest and now her body and mind were giving up.

Fatigue overcame her and Freya found her eyes closing forcefully. Her limbs felt like wet cement and she sighed with contentment as her head found a soft pillow. Her body craved the warmth that came with it and she lost consciousness.

Freya woke up slowly, her ears getting used to the birds chirping outside the burrow. She yawned and stretched like a cat. Her body was stiff and it hurt as she got up. The rough surface has done a job on her. She stretched her arms again and jumped as they touched a soft warm surface. She looked back slowly and gasped as she realized she’d spent the entire night on the King, using his arm as a pillow. She flushed with embarrassment, hating that she’d treated the King- her patient- like that.

She looked back at him and he’d lost the frown that he had the night before. “At least he was warm all night, he should be okay,” She mused as she brushed his hair out of his eyes without thinking.

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