Josey sat up in bed quickly. She sensed Cofer was having some sort of panic attack. Her heart was racing, she only felt his anxiety for a moment before she lost her connection with him. “Cofer.. What’s going on?” She whispered to herself. Then she became angry. If he hadn’t discarded his mind-link connection to her she would at least be able to check on him. “Damn it Cofer!” She grunted.
She called Shion and got her day started. She had her pack her breakfast this time. She didn’t realize she was going days without eating full meals. She was pregnant with twins and her babies were yelling at her. She felt nauseous and like she was starving to death simultaneously. She had an odd taste for salted cucumbers, so she requested them to be included in her meals. Soon Shion arrived with Josey’s meal while she was scooting her foot into her boot.
She put the meal into her backpack and headed to the castle. She would sit in the library and complete additional paperwork until her meeting with the King.
She crossed over into Wilshana and headed straight for the door. When she opened it, the twins were smiling, larger than normal, at her.
“What is it?” Josey asked them.
Liv cleared his throat then Adiv spoke, “Was that Queen Sueli’s voice last night?”
Josey was startled. She stopped walking and turned around slowly,”How would you know that?”
“We can feel the closeness of our brethren to our ancestors. Every person in Yanrana and Sambofah have dreamed of you or had visions of you in some capacity.” Liv responded.
“It’s been so long since someone was possessed by the soul of an ancestor that we did not believe but when we heard her voice, the vision made sense.” Adiv continued.
“What?” Josey bit down on the nail bed of her thumb. She was very anxious. This was an unexpected development.
“Please forgive us if we have disrespected our queen. Our lives are yours.” Liv and Adiv bowed and spoke at the same time. They could sense her anxiety that she felt on the hills of discovering the information.
Josey turned away from the twins. “Let’s keep moving forward, we will discuss this further later.”
“Yes my Queen.” They said to Josey.
Josey was really early but she was within the timeframe discussed as a part of the terms of her project. The castle was quiet, so it only made sense that they moved in complete silence too.
—--
Dsa’s hair lightly tickled Valin’s nose. He awoke with the urge to sneeze. He moved back a little from her vanilla scented hair and took a deep breath to calm the onslaught. Throughout the night he held Dsa close to his chest with one hand resting on her belly. He had never been so excited in his life. His first child would be born in the next 3 to 4 months with a woman he knew little about. But it felt like that was enough. He did not love her, which made sense because she was only his concubine. Within his soul though, he could feel a disturbance. Something didn’t feel right.
He had a strong need to love, to find someone to cherish. He didn’t remember if he had ever been in love, all he knew was he wanted it. He kissed Dsa on the neck and worked to get his arm from under her head.
For the first time, he almost decided not to have s*x with Dsa the prior night. “She was so wet. How could being inside of her go so wrong?” He thought to himself. The heartache afterward was overwhelming. He felt like he no longer wanted to live. He sat up in bed. It wasn’t normal to have suicidal thoughts after climaxing. He couldn’t believe his body and mind were rejecting s*x.
“Maybe I need to take a hiatus from s****l activities?” Valin whispered to himself. He stood up and put on his robe. He needed to get to his bedroom now. He didn’t want to wait for an escort.
“The castle should still be pretty empty. If I hurry I won’t get seen.”
He pulled his hoodie from his robe over his head and started to speed walk towards his room. In his effort to keep his face covered he missed the stealthy exiles and their Queen quickly moving towards the library. He moved past them and kept quiet. It was bad enough that they were seeing him like this. He would greet the Queen when he was decent.
Once they were at his back, he couldn’t help but smile. Their Queen never failed to bring forth the oddest of feelings from him. Here she was heading to work, super early in the morning. Dressed very casually but carrying herself like the most powerful person in the world. She was really a spectacular woman. He muffled his thoughts and increased his speed.
—----
“I hate this Josey.” Sueli whispered. Josey expected a reaction from her. She had hoped they would not have to see him coming from or going to the concubine wing again but that was not their destiny. Liv and Adiv opened the doors to the library and Josey walked through. The twins looked at her then each other. Her hands were trembling.
“If there is anything you would like for us to do… “, Adiv said then Liv finished, “Or anyone you would like for us to kill.” Then they spoke together, “Please do not hesitate, my Queen.”
Josey looked up towards the raised ceiling trying to calm the angry succubus within her and raised her hand to signal for the men to leave. Josey was not used to the crying but she was getting better at ignoring it.
“Sueli, we promised we would not pursue Valin. Remember?” Josey interjected.
Sueli sobbed. She remembered. She understood the goal. Her sobs slowly came to an end while Josey was picking through the maps. Time ticked by on the large clock in the hallway of the upstairs corridor. It sounded like the loud chiming was right next to her table.
While deep in thought , she heard the library door opening. “Good Morning Queen Sueli.” Valin said. Once he caught Josey’s attention, he continued “My apologies for not being able to greet you earlier. My disposition at the time was not appropriate.” He continued and then looked down at the floor.
“I understand. I was actually happy that you did not greet me as you were. It showed that you respected me as a Queen and an ally to the throne.” Josey smiled while Sueli moaned.
“Are you ready to review your budget for the project?” Valin asked.
Josey nodded. She was enthusiastic about hearing his opinion. This was the first time she worked on planning outside of school. Valin read over the paperwork and requested updates. The two went back and forth , discussing details and making changes.
“These are very well written. I wouldn’t, for a moment, have thought this was your first project.” Valin praised Josey.
“So we are done with the preliminary documentation?” Josey said in disbelief.
“Yes. I will discuss your proposal and budget needs with the counsel this evening.”
“Great! I can’t wait to hear their feedback!” Josey declared then her stomach interrupted them, rolling out a fairly loud growl.
Josey’s eyes widened with embarrassment as she looked at her watch. “Oh my, it's almost three o’clock!”
“Would you like to have second lunch with me? We definitely lost track of time and I’m starving.” Valin followed her concern.
“We can eat together but I brought my own meal. Cravings and such.” Josey said in short.
Valin stood up and walked to the DS and requested William bring his meal to the library.
Valin sat in the chair across from Josey. “You know today the counsel wanted to discuss names for my son. Have you decided on a name for yours?” Valin casually asked.
“Yes I have.”
Valin leaned back in his chair, “Dsa wants to name him Valentino. While that is in line with our courts naming convention, I am unsure. I don’t think I will fight the decision though.”
Josey’s eyes began to become clouded. The silence in her head scared her more than usual. Sueli was trying to absorb her. Valin stood up from his chair as if he could feel something unexplainable happening. Liv and Adiv ran into the room. Adiv made his way to Josey and Liv to Valin. “Please turn around King Valin. We solemnly ask that you not look at our Queen.” Liv requested while slightly bowing his head. The twins had no right to command Valin to leave or turn around.
Valin turned around regardless. Whatever was happening was intense and frightening. He could see Liv trembling as he watched him.
“My Queen. You shouldn’t be here. What do you need me to do?” Adiv asked Josey concerned not only about her but the state this action could put her project in. A darkness loomed at Josey’s back. Adiv tried to talk to Sueli again. “Queen Sueli, your presence is scar..worrying the King. Please get a hold of yourself.” Those were the right words. Though Sueli was angry. She didn’t want to scare her love.
She rescinded back into Josey. When Josey opened her eyes, Adiv’s large golden brown eyes were staring deep into hers. “Damn it Sueli.” Josey whispered.
“Are you okay? Shall we call for your King?” Adiv continued.
“No. I’m okay. Please stand.” She said to Adiv.
Liv bowed deeper to Valin and backed away. Valin turned around still bewildered by Adiv’s line of questioning to Josey. “What happened?” He thought to himself.
Before he could speak, Josey spoke. “Let me apologize. I have spells occasionally, it won’t happen again. Please have a seat King Valin. I hope you can forgive us.” Josey said. Her face was bright red. Liv and Adiv bowed deeply, apologizing to Valin.
“Set up my lunch.” Josey commanded the twins.
While the twins emptied the meal carrier, William arrived with a maid who pushed a cart full of food, covered by a large golden dome. As she put the plate in front of Valin, the twins were walking off. They had set Josey’s plate without making a sound. Every utensil was perfectly set. Her gold trimmed black matte plates looked like they had no place to be ever carried in a backpack.
“You were carrying those? They look rare and expensive.” Valin said out of concern for the dishes..
“Just a few feet. The twins carried it most of the time.”
Valin chuckled.She was so casual at times, he would forget she’s a queen. As they started to talk William, the maid, and the twins exited the room. Josey fought to keep her composure while Sueli screeched in her head. She wanted to excuse herself from the table and scold her for attempting to show herself to Valin.
After listening to Valin talk for some time, Sueli started to calm down. Back when he loved her he was always super comfortable around her. He said anything and everything that was on his mind. This moment felt like that. Josey and Sueli could not hide that they were aroused. Their knee jerk response was pouting their lips then gently licking them. They could feel him staring at them. [Damn she’s beautiful.]
Valin stood up from his chair, “It’s getting late I should go ahead and head over to the …uhm….”
“The council room?”
“Yes..that.” Valin laughed nervously and then cleared his throat,, “The meeting shouldn’t run very long, so meet me in my office before you leave for the evening.”
He found himself getting ensnared by Josey’s beauty. He was glad today was her last day at work for the week. He needed time to recover.