Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 78

[ Taiya ]

He sat across from me, chatting away, pouring me tea, putting food on a plate for me. It had all been planned in advance - a sweet romantic afternoon tea. The table had been set with beautiful blue glazed plates along with a varied assortment of cake and savouries; far more than two could eat. The teapot was steaming lightly, tendrils of lavender scented air drifted about. My mouth was watering but my nerves were so taught you could cut the cheese with them.

He was so eager but with a fragility to it; a fear. I was afraid too. Despite everything we had shared in the hot springs he was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see past his title and discover Ethyn for who he is.

I was afraid.

Afraid that what the whispering voice had been telling me was true. Then I was afraid that what it was telling me wasn’t true. There was a longing in me to have Ethyn as my own. A connection that could only be explained by the fabled tale of mates.

In a way I was still fearful of his power, his status. Absentmindedly I had hit him on the arm but he had taken it all in his stride. No matter how many times he told me to just call him Ethyn it didn’t stop his position from being real. He was Crown Prince and I had nothing.

No memories.

No family.

No wealth.

No status bar what the King had allowed me to keep.

Then there was his Shade…

His powerful, highly regarded silver magic. He had gotten on his knees, the Crown Prince humbled himself before me and made a vow. That had to mean something. More than just a show of words. I could still feel the way it had stirred me. His finger down my neck had stirred me in another way. This morning’s dream was all I could think about.

“Esther? Is everything alright? You seem distracted.” Soft grey eyes, framed with worry, gave me their full attention. Without thinking, my hand tenderly met with the part of my neck that he had touched.

“I dreamt of you…” My body quivered. Fear and desire slithering over my flesh.

“You did?” Ethyn’s worry gave way to intrigue.

“It was,” Hesitation encircled me. Could I really tell him this? “It was very pleasant but unfortunately cut rather short.”

“What were we doing in this pleasant dream?” Ethyn leaned in, drawn towards me as I was drawn to him. A glint in his eye showed his excitement.

“You were kissing me.” A hot blush coated my skin while a different heat settled between my legs.

“That is quite the blush mon foudre…” He teased, bright eyes a little lustful. “Where was I kissing you?”

“Here,” I pointed to my exposed clavicle, “and here, you were getting rather low when I woke up…” My voice finished with a squeak. Why was I even telling him this?

“How low?” He panted, eyes blazing now.

“Um, um… er.”

“That low, huh?” His smile was delicious. There was nothing to do but nod. “Very unfortunate that the dream was cut short. Would you like to finish it?”

I couldn’t breathe. Perhaps I was still asleep.

“Esther, please ignore me, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have been so inappropriate. This is only the third time we have met and I shouldn’t be pressuring you. I’m very sorry, I will endeavour to behave in a more gentlemanly fashion.” Ethyn babbled, suddenly removed from the confident sexy Prince he had been a moment ago. There was something in the way he shifted that had me shifting in the opposite direction.

“I suppose it is too much to ask a Prince to get on his knees twice in one day.”

“Ye Gods, woman. You are…” He bit his thumb, nibbled the side of it. I couldn’t help but think that it was me he was considering having between his teeth. The heat between my legs grew. “You are mercurial in the most magnificent way.”

“Mercurial?” Each time I asked him what something meant I felt a surge of confidence. Ethyn was kind and unjudgemental.

"Unpredictable changes of mind or mood."

"And you find that 'magnificent'?"

"Yes, because you are so honest in your reactions. People are normally much more schooled around me."

"I don't feel honest, it feels like there is so much of me missing. How can I be truly honest?"

"You are honest in what you have my dear foudre, in your questions, in your blush, in your needs…"

"I don't recall ever having such needs tended to."

"I'm not pushing for anything, at your pace mon foudre. How about we enjoy the spread and I will woo you with a poem?"

"Joseph says that her boyfriend writes his poetry against Jo's flesh."

"Is that so?" My Prince mused, a smile lurking from my persistence. "I take it that is how you would like your poetry administered also?"

I nodded, "Please, My Prince." My expectation was that we would abandon the afternoon spread in favour of enacting my dream but instead Ethyn slid under the table with non other than a cup of tea. “Oo!!”

Ethyn chuckled with his hot hand on my ankle. Breath trickled into my lungs. My pulse was pounding in my ears like a huge drum announcing his approach. I looked ahead at the chair he had occupied only moments ago. Toasty fingers ventured beyond my ankle. They whispered their way up my calf. Anticipation was a thrum as the material of my dress brushed over my skin, following the wake of his touch.

The corseted dress was now much too tight as I gasped a shocked breath. Ethyn’s hands were on my knees.

“If you want me to stop - you only have to say.” My Prince told me from beneath the table. It came with the subtext of expectation. But why would I ask him to stop? Of all the times within this castle that someone had behaved with unfamiliar familiarity this was the only contact that crossed that boundary without feeling as though it were crossing any boundary.

In reply I parted my legs. They opened wide, following the gentle direction of his palms. Ethyn tossed the material of my dress up, billowing it so that he could shuffle beneath the canopy. At one point his hand collided with the underside of the table making everything wobble and vibrate as he tried to camp beneath my skirts.

He stilled the rustling and rummaging through the layers of fabric; the tenseness of the pause making me quiver. A small movement followed by the sound of him drinking the tea he had absconded with made me fidged.

"Ye Gods!" I squawked in the manner of an alarmed crow. Ethyn's lips, tender and heated, were on the most soft part of my inner thigh. "Oagh!" Surprise burst from my mouth while my body jerked in shock and heat pooled like the ocean gathering in a tidepool when My Prince pulled my lacy blue knickers to one side.

Ethyn groaned. A low sound of desire. His exhale blowing over me. A tingle along every nerve. Then it happened. His tongue, a soft, firm, intense heat, pressed against my intimateness. Glorious. Ye Gods he was blessed, or was I, or were we both?

Either way I was falling in bliss. My hips moved to expose myself more as he greedily consumed me. Each lick and suck was intensely hot. Certainly he knew what he was doing. Ethyn’s mouth was beyond skilled. I clutched the edge of the table, holding myself steady as his persistence against my lady parts grew in earnest.

Ethyn’s lips moved with a hunger. Humming, he devoured me. The intensity of feeling became brighter and brighter inside me.

“Oh, Ethyn.” The only noise I made that wasn’t nonsense came forth as the tower of pleasure he had stacked inside me with his clever tongue collapsed as if it were one huge wave. It felt as though a flood of heat had rolled through my core, coaxed from inside me, onto My Prince’s lips.

He kissed the inside of my thigh once more. The feeling of his gentle lips matched the incredible glow that had enveloped every part of my being. Ethyn shuffled away, untangling himself from my dress. It was almost painful to have him move away from me. In fact I had to purse my lips to prevent any complaint.

The chair opposite made an awful screech against the floor as Ethyn climbed it with his empty tea cup. He looked drunk. His soft grey eyes were wide with a blissful look. The once perfectly styled hair was now fluffed up, sticking in all directions. There was a quirk of emotion in the lazy smile he now wore. A sort of satisfaction. Other than the messy hair, I wondered if his dazed look was a reflection of my own.

“Why did you take the tea?” I asked, stupidly but what else did one say after receiving such ‘poetry’ on a first date?