AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sarah threw him a look of concern but then, she nodded.
“It’s definitely this dress.”
She ran her hands down the exquisite gown that had been pain-stakingly stitched for her. A cream colour it fell in swathes and swathes of floating fabric with gold beads and diamonds stitched over the arms and bodice. “And this crown.” She lifted her fingers, slightly shaking, to the elaborate, heavy piece of jewellery that adorned her head. “And the makeup.”
“It’s everything about you,” Syed assured his wife.
Her eyes met his in the mirror and she turned slowly, conducting her own inspection of his appearance. The traditional robes always looked amazing on him, but today, knowing the significance of what they were doing, it felt different somehow.
The coronation ceremony had been in the works for the month they’d been in Kalastan.
“Right back at you,” she murmured, biting down on her lower lip before realising that she might eat off her lipstick.
“You know,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing him closer. His body was hard, and she felt her own body soften against it, her gut churn in pleasurable anticipation. She blinked up at him, waiting, expectantly. “If we had ten minutes more…”
“Yes?” She murmured.
He dropped his lips to her throat, breathing a kiss against her sensitive flesh there. “I’d help you to forget all this. To remember that you’re here because I love you, and I’m a man, and you’re a woman, and all this is just meaningless froth.”
His hands grazed the dress, finding her breasts and she moaned, arching her back.
“I remember that anyway,” she said throatily.
“Still,” he laughed, “a little reminder wouldn’t hurt.”
He pushed her back against the wall, his strong legs on either side of her, straddling her so that she could feel the hint of his erection. He pushed it against her, grinding it to her core and making her knees feel like they were about to fall out.
“I think I can get out of this dress pretty quickly,” she lied, thinking guiltily of the four attendants it had taken to button her up.
“Look! Look! I’m a princess!”
Sarah made a choking noise as Lexi burst into the room, twirling in the centre. Syed recovered impressively quickly, straightening from the wall and turning his back on Sarah to allow her a moment unseen to recover her wits.
Lexi was wearing a miniature version of Sarah’s dress, right down to the diamonds and gold – something Sarah had expressed ambivalence about. A four year old could hardly be trusted to care for something so valuable. But Sasha had promised she’d take care of both Lexi and the dress.
Sarah’s breath fired in her lungs and disappointed curdled her soul. God, she wanted to make love to her husband. It was ridiculous; only hours earlier they’d done just that, but her need was rampant.
“Yes you are,” Syed crouched down, straightening Lexi’s crown and smiling at her face. “And today all of my people will know it.”
“Will they clap at me?”
“Clap for you? Yes.”
“Will it be like in Cinderella? Will they bow to me? Will there be a ball?”
He laughed and nodded. “But you’ll turn into a pumpkin if you stay too long, so Sasha will take you to bed after the first dance.”
“Ohhhh,” Lexi nodded, her eyes huge. “Really? An actual pumpkin?”
Sarah watched the interaction with warmth bursting through her. “No, darling,” she soothed, sending Syed a droll look as she crossed towards them and reached down for her daughter. She lifted Lexi easily and propped her on her hip.
“You look like a princess,” Lexi complimented Sarah with the biggest kindness in her arsenal. “So pretty.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh!” Sasha burst through the door, her face pale. “Lexi!” She laughed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, your highnesses. She told me she was going to the bathroom.”
Sarah laughed. “Cheeky monkey.” She kissed Lexi’s cheek and placed her down on the floor and Sasha took her hand.
