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They rode out their ecstasy until finally they collapsed together, spent and trembling with pleasure. As they lay entangled in each other's arms afterward, glowing from head to toe from the intensity of their lovemaking, Castor stared deep into Ianora's eyes and knew with absolute certainty that there was no one else in this world for him.
This love was truly wondrous—one that had been worth fighting for from the beginning.
"I love you," he said to her, as he did a dozen times each day. It was never enough.
She smiled, blinking up at him with exhausted eyes. "I love you too, my king."
***
"A letter for you, sire," Geordian said, his voice interrupting Castor's moment of deep thought.
He looked up from his mahogany desk to find his assistant standing there, hand extended with the letter waiting patiently at his fingertips.
"From whom?" Castor asked as he took the letter, but he already knew the answer from the coiled serpent imprinted on the wax seal.
"King Emeric, sire. I was instructed to give it to you at once."
Castor raised his eyebrows, broke the seal, and then carefully unfolded the heavy, expensive paper used to write the letter. He hadn't heard from King Emeric since he laid a hand on Ianora at the ball, despite the man's supposed interests in aligning with Castor against the Eroch family.
Perhaps he realized that Castor's intentions in that regard were no longer in his favor. Wise of him to sense the shift in tides and back off if Castor did say so himself. Still, it was unexpected to receive correspondence from him now, and in the form of a letter...so odd.
Castor glanced at the neat cursive on the page, which read:
To the noblest King Castor, Wraith of the South,
There is a rumor spreading rapidly throughout the high courts that you somehow managed to break the curse placed upon your person for daring to oppose King Kel of Rainada. Is it true that you are no longer tainted in mind, body, and soul?
Perhaps you will recall that you were not the only one who suffered from this curse. There are three of us out there, lying in wait for answers. To move against the man who did this to us.
Tell us how you broke the curse, provide any information about how you did so, and we will make it worth your while.
Sincerely,
King Emeric of the Sesiti Islands, your dearest friend, and acquaintance.
Castor smirked and tilted the letter toward the crackling fireplace. He watched the paper blacken and then turn to ash.
"Sire? Would you like to respond?" Geordian asked patiently.
"I would, yes." Castor folded his hands neatly on the desk. "It seems King Emeric wishes to break the curse that haunts him, and he believes I know how."
"What will you do?"
"Help him, of course. He would be a valuable ally."
"But sire, doesn't he wish to hurt your wife's family?"
"Yes, that is a bit of a problem, isn't it?" Castor leaned back, letting the amber tendrils in the fireplace lead him toward the answers he needed. "But I have my suspicions about what broke the curse, and I will be a surprised man, indeed, if any of those other wretched kings manage to break free of it. And should they manage to do so, I do not believe they will be a threat to us at all."
"As you say, sire." Geordian bowed. "Tell me your wish, and I will see it done."
"I see no harm in sending someone to assist him. The woman I have in mind, she's an expert in curses, you see. But she was no use for the power that tainted me, and she will be of limited use to him. Still, it will be amusing to see them try, don't you think?"
And after Castor had received a second chance with the love of his life, which then, in turn, broke the curse recently placed upon him, he had become a generous man.
If he could be given a chance to find love and happiness, why not everyone else?
Those other kings would, after all, must find a way in their cold, selfish hearts to love another more than themselves first.
*****
THE END
