AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When we reached the rooftop balcony, I threaded my fingers through his. Mathias still looked floaty even as his eyes anxiously scanned the ground below.
“Luis?” I asked when I peered over the wall myself.
“Your Majesty,” he said from behind me.
“Valeri Velichkov has arrived.”
There was a noise like a grunting bull. I turned, one eyebrow raised, to find my guard’s eyebrows drawn down, his fists clenched, and a mighty glower on his face.
“May I say something with the greatest of respect, my king?” Luis asked shortly.
“You may.”
“Fuck off,”he growled.
I laughed. It may have taken him over a year in my service to stand up to me, but I couldn’t deny he’d chosen to do it in style.
And also wholly unjustifiably.
Mat glanced over his shoulder at us, amusement tinging his own expression. “Val’shere,” he said, and I heard the relief in his voice.
Luis levelled a glare on him.
“You canalso-”
“He actually is.”
“I refuse to fall for it again, Your Highness.”
“Seriously, Luis,” Mathias insisted earnestly, elbowing me to stop me chortling. “He’s down at the gates right now.”
Luis folded his arms and ignored us both. We waited patiently.
A couple of minutes later, Elías’ voice echoed up the tower stairs.
“Luis!”
The guard snapped to attention. “Comandante?” he called back.
“Prince Valeri has arrived. Why aren’t you there to greet him?”
Luis visibly paled, his eyes flickering between me and Mat as if he thought I’d order him punished right then and there. “Heading there now, sir. Sorry, sir.” He took off hastily down the steps.
Snickering, my future husband and I followed him.
“Comandante,” I acknowledged when we reached the bottom of the stairs, my eyes drawn, as they always were, to the rank embroidered onto El’s coat.
He’d protested the appointment, of course, which made him perfect for the power the position bestowed on him, and then took to his duties with a quiet but fierce sincerity when I declared I wasn’t going to listen to anything but glowing compliments sent in my direction, which meant I ignored everything Mathias said to me for the eight hours it took to forget I’d made such a decree.
There had been a mass resignation of guards upon the announcement, although if the men had hoped that would force their new king into changing his mind, it was utter stupidity on their part. All it did was relieve us of the burden of having to dismiss them ourselves. And I was proud of what El had managed to build from those who were left or had joined afterwards – including the influx of female candidates we’d received immediately after the abolition of the gender laws.
El nodded at me distractedly, running a hand through his hair. Trying to manage security in a palace filled with visitors from not just all three countries of Riehse Eshan but foreigners from off-continent, royals included, had to be a nightmare. I didn’t envy him the responsibility. I’d have suggested he seize advantage of his new rank and all our tipsy guests to get himself laid, but he took his job far too seriously to properly abuse its perks the way I would have.
“Don’t you think Elías looks sexy in his Comandante uniform?” I asked as he strode away, trying to watch him leave. Mat positioned himself to block my view of the man’s pert ass.
“Not as sexy as you in your crown,” he said coyly.
I grinned, suitably distracted. “Come here and say that again,” I purred, dragging him closer by his shirt and reacquainting my tongue with his. It had gotten awfully lonely in the nine or so minutes since I’d last had the chance to kiss him, and even knowing I’d be marrying this gorgeous, amazing man tomorrow, it still felt a little surreal to be able to hold him in my arms without worrying about what anyone else might think.
