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Putting the comms unit away, Ethelred returned beside the bed, bringing me a water bottle. He was the same large build as all Cyrans and kept his hair short like the Royal Guard he'd once been. Big and strong and so very intimidating if you didn't know his compassionate heart.
"So, Princess, what brings you to the wetlands?"
"I need somewhere safe to be. I couldn't think of a better place." Taking the water that Ethelred offered, his smile warmed me.
"Well, I would say make yourself at home, but by the looks of it..." He raised his eyebrows at my nakedness beneath the sheet before he picked up my robe. "I will hang this to dry for you." Ethelred looked at his comms. "It is late, but I know a market that's still open. I will get some food to see you through the night."
"Ethel," I hesitated. "I need Hälsodryck, or I will be unconscious by morning."
Pausing, Ethelred stared a moment longer than was polite. He shook his head. "Of all the times to get a woman pregnant, he chooses to do it on the eve of war. I know some people. I will see what I can do. Go back to sleep, Princess."
"Ethel, if this will put you in a bad spot?"
Ethelred smirked as much as a Cyran's mouth let them. "Prince Saboa got back to the palats hours ago. Everything has been in Chaos since, but no one knows why. As I have not been contacted by Commander Stark or the Prince yet. So, your being here is not an issue. But as soon as either of them calls me, I will be honor bound to reveal your location, Zira. You understand?"
With a nod, I closed my eyes again. "How long does that give me?"
"Depends how bad it is."
"One of my elite tried to sell me to a power-hungry Avalonian and planned to kill my unborn children."
Ethelred cursed so severely that I blushed for him. "Depending on how long it takes them to work it out, Zira. I'll give it between sunrise to lunch tomorrow at the latest. I will be back within the hour." The door shut and locked, and I drifted back to sleep.
I was only vaguely aware of Ethelred returning and lifting my head as he put a bottle to my lips. I sipped the Hälsodryck until the bottle was taken away. Then I was conscious enough to recognize a body slipping into the bed with me and folding me in large arms.
It wasn't until a comms unit beeped just before sunrise that I was able to fully wake. Movement behind me alerted my brain and forced me to open my blurry eyes to see the strong arm around me collect their comms from the bed, raise it up, and read the message.
With a sigh, Ethelred kissed the top of my shoulder. "They found the Elite's body at the mouth of the våtmarker channel just a short time ago. I have been called before the Prince after breakfast. Your robe should be dry by now."
Climbing out of bed, Ethelred placed my dry robe next to me before turning his back to dress.
"I didn't interrupt your evening did I?"
Ethelred laughed, his voice filling the cabin. "You are my Princess, you can interrupt the best sex of my life, and I would not begrudge you. But even before that," he turned to smile at me, "even as my friend. If you need me, I am there, Zira. Just like you were for me."
I blinked away tears, and Ethelred growled. "Now, do not start doing that, or I will have to take pity on you and pleasure you until you scream, and we both know how much trouble that will get me in with the Prince."
My belly flipped over at the memory of sex with Ethelred, and I sighed. "Don't start making those sorts of offers, Ethel. You know I can't, and right now, my desires are uncontrollable."
Ethelred's face became sympathetic before a devilish glint entered his eye. "For the first time ever, I envy my Prince. Imagine the burden of an insatiable, beautiful wife?"
"Most Cyran's would not find me so."
"But the Prince does, and I always have, Zira, since the day you soothed my loss."
The tease was gone from his voice now. Anything that prompted the memory of Ethelred's wife stirred his grief. It's how we met all those years past. I had just come of age, and he was a trader grieving the loss of his wife. I gave Ethelred a shoulder to cry on. He gave me some fantastic and invaluable experience on how to be with a Cyran male. Not to mention our mutual knowledge, which led to successful business arrangements.
"Do you regret your choice, Ethel?" I wouldn't have been game to ask it five years ago.
"Choosing Berdine over my career in the Royal Guard?" Ethelred started making breakfast. "I would have made Elite if I did not meet her and break my celibacy before the five-year stint. Still, six months with Berdine was worth an eternity of being seen as a failure."
"The Prince doesn't see you that way."
Ethelred smiled. "No, thanks to a certain lady, my business became very successful. At times, the Prince and his Commander see my training as a Royal Guard and my chosen profession as very valuable. Like when the Princess vanishes into vapor."
I cringed at the reminder of my predicament as he handed me the flask of Hälsodryck.
"I only managed to get the two flasks last night. The black market on this stuff is not exactly flourishing since you fund the free disbursement to pregnant women at every clinic. I lucked upon a dealer who just happened to pick up a couple of bottles while he was freeing a clinic of some more valuable product last night."
