“I’m okay. I promise.” David shook as Samuel undid the shackles holding his hands, then collapsed into his arms.
“Bullshit.” Samuel kicked the lock holding David in the stocks and lifted him free. “You look like hell. What have they been doing to you? I’ve never seen you like this.”
“You’d laugh.”
“Not if it has you like this. Spit it out, kid.”
“Tickling,” David mumbled.
“What?”
“They’ve been tickling me, okay?” He rubbed his head. “How long? I woke up here about when you guys broke into the castle.”
Samuel faltered. “Gods, Dave, that was almost a day ago. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he repeated. “Lemme just… just—” He pushed free of Samuel and staggered a few steps, then collapsed on the padded chair he’d been bound to.
***
“Okay, Dave, you can’t sleep all day. People are waiting for you.”
David shoved Samuel away. “Shaddup, Sam, I’m tired.”
“Yeah, but you aren’t dead, and people need to know that. C’mon, up and at ‘em.” Samuel hauled David upright. David swatted at his hands, but still ended up sitting, a hand pressed to his forehead. He prodded his temple and found a bandage.
“Not sure what those guards were doing to you, but you took a nasty hit back there.” Samuel winked at him. “Good to see you on your feet.”
“Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.” He pondered it. “More than one. Way more than one.”
“Shut up and get your act together.” Samuel smacked his shoulder. “You need to go out there and talk to Cerces.”
Of course. He turned. “Did we win?”
Samuel grinned. “Of course we did. Now go out there and be a leader.”
“You should come with me, Sam. I didn’t do any of this.”
“Oh, yeah, you did. Cerces wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you.” Samuel laughed. “I’m just a general that stepped up when you vanished off the face of the Earth.”
That’s right. “Sam… I fell asleep in the castle and woke up in Astal. Do you have any idea how that happened?”
Samuel went rigid. “Relo.”
“Relo? Really?”
“Yeah. A while ago I figured out we were getting shipments from Astal’s army. Weapons and food, things like that. It didn’t make sense, so I went to Relo, and he said there were some people in the army who thought we were a good cause.” He cursed. “Gods, I’m such an idiot. He traded you for it!”
“Relo,” David echoed again. It made sense. He and Samuel were the only ones with access to David’s quarters in the castle, and Samuel had been at the front lines for days when David first found himself in Elana’s bedroom.
“I can take care of him, Dave.”
“Don’t kill him.”
Samuel stopped halfway through drawing his longsword. “What?”
“If he hadn’t betrayed us, this never would’ve worked.” His voice dropped. “I’d never have met Elana.”
“Right.” Samuel let go of his sword hilt. “So what do I do with him?”
“My days here weren’t always in the arms of Astal’s princess.” He shot Samuel a glare. “Remember that chair you found me in?”
“Yeah?”
“Lock him in there. Every warrior in our militia can have a chance at him. Let’s tickle that bastard to death.”
“You know he’s an orphan, right?”
“Close enough.” David laughed and opened the door. “Leave him there for three days. And let him have a chamber pot.” He looked down at himself, relieved to see that Samuel had changed his soiled clothes while he was out cold. “It’s more than what I had.”
“Okay, Dave.” Samuel nodded. “You’re a good man, you know that, right?”
“Trust me, I wasn’t.” David offered him a smile. “But I’ve met someone.”
“Oh, I know.” Samuel waved. “Now go out there and get her.”
“Thanks, Sam!” David rushed out the door, down a hall, and burst onto a bridge overlooking a foyer. The ballroom below was packed with an odd mixture of guards and warriors in makeshift armor, shoulder to shoulder and the sound deafening.
Elana stood at the far end of the bridge, eyes downcast.
“Princess!” David rushed toward her. She hardly turned before he swept her up in his arms.
“David! I thought you were hurt—” she touched the bandage on his temple. “Gods, you’re just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you?” She smiled. “Now put me down so we can talk to this army of yours.”
“Good idea.” He set her down and turned back to the crowd. Well, he didn’t have to get their attention. That little display had them riveted.
He stepped away from Elana. “Morning, warriors of Cerces, guards of Astal. You may recognize me. I’m David, Prince of Cerces.”
“And I’m Elana of Astal,” she added.
“Today, you have made history.” David smiled. “We are free thanks to your bravery.”
“Queen Taria, who usurped the throne, has been killed!” Elana announced.
The crowd roared, and David glanced at her. She shot him a genuine smile. So while he had been trapped and tortured by guards, Cerces had found and killed the queen. Elana was the uncontested heir to Astal’s throne.
“King David!” someone called.
“King David!” The crowd picked up the chant and it soon deafened the pair.
They exchanged glances, then raised intertwined hands. “We’ll take charge together.”
Silence fell.
“I may have led this rebellion, but this crown is not mine,” David began. “I will be a king in name, if that’s what it takes. However, this kingdom belongs to Elana.”
“I am happy to share this with you, David.” Elana clasped her other hand around his. “Whatever power you need, it’s yours.”
The crowd roared again as they raised their intertwined hands once more.
Samuel approached them on the bridge. “Some speech, Dave. And I take it that this is Elana?”
“Samuel?” Elana shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet the man who taught David all his tricks.”
“Gods, is that what he’s been doing?” Samuel laughed as David reddened. “Well, good to know that wasn’t a waste of time.” He winked at her. “Good catch. But don’t play around with my best friend’s heart, okay?”
“Never,” she agreed. “All right. I guess back to my bedroom?”
“I was about to suggest the same thing.” David followed her toward her quarters, still holding her hand.
They passed Cilen outside the dusty war room. The general nursed a wound on her arm, but smiled as they passed.
Elana closed the door behind them. “Well, I can’t believe that’s been sorted out. I spent the past day hiding in the guard barracks— oh!”
David knelt at her feet and offered her his wrists. He’d shed his shirt and boots and sat with his head bowed. “Thank you for your help, Princess.”
“Rebel, what are you doing?” She craned her neck. He’d snapped on the fur-lined cuff that had bound him to her bedpost, its silver chain glittering against the hardwood floor and through the plush carpet David knelt on.
“I’m not dumb. Power always comes at a price, doesn’t it?” He raised his eyes. “So take it.”
“No, David.” She planted her hands on her hips, and David’s mouth fell open. “You’re the one taking me for dumb.” She walked around him and fished another silk belt from her closet. “You like this.”
David reddened. “Of course I don’t. But I have honor—”
She cut him off with a kiss, and as she deepened it she tied the belt around his wrists. “Bullshit, rebel.” She pulled him to his feet by his bound wrists, then pushed him back until he hit the bed, tripped, and fell into its silken sheets.
David closed his eyes, ready as she sat him against her pile of pillows and straddled him. Then she surprised him again by grabbing his chin and pulling his head aside to examine the bandage on his temple. “How did you get this?” She sat up, gesturing over the brown boot polish stains that still littered his chest and feet.
“Guards. I was caught, and they knew how to torture me.” He hung his head.
“Is that why no one’s seen you for a day?” She ran her fingers across his chin and down his collarbone, making his eyelids flutter. “David, they tickled you for hours nonstop. How can you still want more?”
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “Maybe… maybe because it’s you.”
“You idiot.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she kissed him again. “All you had to do was ask.”
He looked away, reddening even more. “I’m not that— that—”
“So you still have an ego in there after all.” Elana smiled, then got off of him and stood. “Alright, king, let’s see how honorable you really are.” She made her way to her vanity and fumbled through its drawers, finally dropping a brush onto its tabletop. “There it is.” She raised it. “Boot brush. I’ve never used it. Don’t really need to.” She dropped it on the bed by David’s feet, and he pulled away before he could stop himself.
Elana raised her eyebrows. “Well, that explains the stains.” She touched one on his foot and he closed his eyes. “Gods, you’re covered in this stuff.” She pulled her box of tools out from under the bed and picked out a fluffy rag. David grimaced, but let her cross her legs over his ankle. She first brushed the rag over the stains, then scrubbed them, struggling as David tried to kick free.
“It’s not coming off.” Elana frowned and looked up at David, who had sunk his teeth into his wrist in an effort to keep from laughing. “Guess the next thing is to try to get it off the same way they put it on you.”
David yanked free and curled up into a ball as she grabbed the boot brush again. She blinked, glanced at the brush, then laughed. “You’re not going to be able to hold still, are you?”
“I couldn’t hold still for the rag,” he pointed out, pulling a pillow into his lap and hugging it.
“Nope.” She waved a hand. “You smell awful. I’m not letting you destroy my sheets.” She pulled a towel off her closet door and laid it across her bed. “On.”
David crawled onto it, clumsy with his hands tied in front of him. It was almost as comfortable as the bed itself. Elana smiled, then grabbed the corners of the towel and yanked it up until David’s head hit the pillows. Some collapsed on his face, and he struggled. “Princess—”
“Sorry.” She adjusted them, then tucked one under David’s head and swept the hair out of his eyes. “There we go.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
“Don’t thank me just yet. We still have to get to the fun part.” There was a splash, and David sat up. Elana was wrist deep in a bucket, soap lather spilling over its sides. He stared as she dunked the brush into it, then the rag, too.
She grinned at him. “Don’t worry. It’s scented.”
Its scent was the last thing he was concerned about. He laid back down and stared at the bed’s canopy. This had been a mistake.
“Alright, hands up.”
He lifted his bound wrists over his head and closed his eyes as she undid the knot. Her hand, fingers thin, wet, and chilled by the soap water, pulled his arm back until he grunted, and the familiar feeling of a knot being tied around his wrist followed. Her weight came off the bed, and David reached up, catching the silk belt that held him. The knot around his wrist was almost unpickable. Not like he’d have enough mental power to try to pick knots.
He jerked as Elana grabbed his right foot, and he raised his head to watch her put a hand towel under it. She hummed as she pulled his leg out until he strained, then tied it to the bedpost with another silk belt. She smiled at him as she pulled a leather string through the belt and around his big and fourth toes, stopping to run it between his other toes. David yelped and twisted, kicking at her. Elana jumped back before his free foot caught her in the face. David tensed, then laid back down, staring at the canopy with his face red.
Elana pulled his other foot to the bedpost, helped by the furry cuff that David himself had clapped back around his ankle. She knew better than to make the same mistake again, this time simply tying back his toes. She came around the bed and knelt on the comforter by his head. “Last chance, rebel. Do you really want to do this?”
David glanced at her and nodded, biting his lip.
“All right, you masochist.” She messed up his hair and pulled his left arm up. David closed his eyes, chest tight as he strained in the spread eagle. Elana wasn’t done, though. She padded around the bed and fumbled through the box once more. David craned his head to watch her through his mess of hair. “Okay, one more time.” She sat up with a strip of cloth. “No Taria to use as an excuse this time. Yes or no?”
David stared at the blindfold for a long moment, then nodded.
“Yes or no, rebel.”
“Yes,” he croaked, and leaned up so she could tie it around his head.
“You keep surprising me.” Elana splashed around some more in the soap bucket. “David of Cerces just asked me to tie him down and tickle him to death. If I look outside, do you think I’ll see flying pigs?”
“Shut up,” he grumbled.
“What was that?” Her voice came from his left this time, and he jerked.
“Nothing. I just mean… the last time you blindfolded me was amazing.”
“I edged you for an hour, David. You were almost out cold by the end of it.” Her voice came from the foot of the bed this time.
“Because I felt your every touch.” He lowered his head, lost. Blackness, her pumping him over and over until it burned…
“Are you really reminiscing over that, rebel? It’s not hard to do it again.” From his right again. He jerked as she set a hand on his crotch, but got nowhere, the ties holding him down.
“Not today, Princess. I’m tired.” It wasn’t a lie. Maybe. Was it?
“So should I leave you here until you feel up to it?”
He shook his head. He was growing stiffer by the second, her hand’s warmth seeping through his pants. At last she stepped away, and he sighed.
She dropped the brush on his chest, the frigid water splashing across his stomach. He flinched and fell short, immobile.
“Is it still that cold? I thought it would’ve warmed up by now…” she mumbled to herself, then scrubbed a brown stain that crossed his right nipple.
<i>“No! Nah ha! Nohohot thehehere! Princehehess!” </i>David yanked on the silk bonds and, as always, found no purchase.
She kissed his forehead, already slick with sweat. “Don’t worry, rebel. It’s starting to come out. Not very quickly, though.”
“No,” he mumbled, then lurched as the brush found his left side. <i>“NO! Nahaha!”</i>
“Gods, it really isn’t coming off.”
<i>“Princehehess, stahahap! NAH! NO!” </i>David thrashed as best he could.
“What? So should I go for your scar, then?”
<i>“NO! NO NO NAHAHAhaha! Haha…” </i> The brush found the scar that covered half his stomach. Darkness, not the gray of the cloth covering his eyes but a true, deep night, began to fold over him.
“David?” Elana’s voice cut through the ringing in his ears. “Are you okay? I can stop—”
“Is my chest clean?”
“What? No.”
“Then clean it. Just… slower, okay?”
She laughed. “Okay, rebel. Slower. I think I’ve gotten most of it, anyway. This should be enough.” David flinched as the cold rag hit his stomach. He bit his lip as Elana continued.
“But you’re not going to like this next bit.” She tapped the top of his foot, and he jumped.
“Gods, no! Princess, are you sure there isn’t another way—”
“You asked for this.”
He had. He laid back and sighed, grimacing as the brush clattered in the soap bucket. It was Elana hovering over him, wiping his chest down until he snickered. Elana, not those gods-damned guards. Elana, who picked up the brush again and dragged it down his chest, stopping just short of the scar wrapping around his side and navel.
<i>“PRINCESS! NO! STAHAHAP! Nahahaha!”</i> He gasped for air like a fish. If he could see, it might be better, but there was still a boot brush scrubbing between his nipples. He struggled, whipping his head around until beads of sweat flew off his hair.
Elana stopped again. He jumped as she set her weight on the bed, but she reached over him with a creak of springs and retrieved the bandage he’d shaken off his temple. “David, I’m not sure about this. You’re going to start bleeding again.”
“I heal quick,” he said.
“I know you do. But it’s been what, a day? You took a pretty bad knock to the head.”
“It’s been two days. And I was in worse shape when we first met.” He took deep breaths, taking advantage of the break.
“That’s true,” she mused, “but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You think you can hurt me?”
Elana stood. “There it is. And right when I think I’ve cut your ego down to size, too.”
A pair of hands dug into his armpits. He shrieked and arched his back as much as he could, but Elana straddled his waist and pinned him to the towel.
“I’m not done washing your chest, anyway.” She moved around, and with a slosh a second weight dropped next to him. “There we go. Much better.”
What had he gotten himself into? And he though the first bit was bad—
“I think I missed some spots. Here’s one.” The brush hit his nipple with a splash of suds, and David craned back, mouth wide in a silent scream. She continued to scrub away, and he struggled as much as he could. Somewhere in the flurry of sensations pelting his mind, he heard her laughing.
Maybe he was a masochist. But she was definitely a sadist.
Her weight shifted. David finally got in some proper air between his wheezing, then lost it all in a gasp as Elana touched his feet. “Princess, I’m cold. I need to dry up before we do anything else.”
“Make up your mind, rebel.” The bucket hit the hardwood with a clang. “I know what I’m doing.”
The brush hit the sole of his foot.
<i>“NAHAHAHA! NO! IT FEHEHELS SO BAHAHAHAD!”</i> David threw his head back.
“You’re in this for a while, rebel. Your feet are completely covered in this stuff.” She hummed to herself. “Maybe it’s better if I use my nails, too…”
<i>“NO NOHOHOHO!” </i>He stopped fighting the ties and just let Elana have her way. He was just hurting himself, anyway. His bad shoulder was already a mess.
“I can’t get between your toes.” David’s head shot up as he heard her pace away. There was a familiar rattle as she messed with her vanity, then she returned to the foot of the bed. “This should do the trick. Maybe this will give you a good reason to hate this thing.” She dunked her new toy into the soap bucket with a splash, then ran the comb between his pinned toes.
<i>“NAIII—”</i> his voice broke and his shriek tailed off into something inaudible. He was still laughing, but his throat was too raw to make a sound.
Elana stood. “Too much. Okay, David, you’ve had enough.” She ripped off his blindfold, which had been plastered to his face with sweat.
David blinked blearily through the bedroom’s lamplight and mumbled a “thank you” as she tossed another towel over him. He had been shivering, from the feel of it.
“I’ve never met anyone as brave as you, you know?” She undid the silk ties holding his arms down and brought him to a seat. “Stupid, too, but I guess that comes with the territory.”
David grunted as she slid behind him and pulled the towel up to his shoulders. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t really a compliment.” She set the heel of her hand in David’s back, where his bad shoulder met his spine.
He groaned and melted in her arms. “You always know exactly where it is.”
“I’ve been doing this a while.” She kissed his ear. “Now hold still while I finish.”
He slumped over, gasping as she hit knots. After a moment, he realized she was just rubbing his shoulders. “Princess?”
“Do you really want to be taken prisoner again, David?”
“Maybe not a prisoner.” David undid the tie holding his right foot. She’d scrubbed his sole spotless. “I just don’t want things to change between us just because your stepmother isn’t looking over our shoulders anymore.”
“This is what you don’t want to change?” Elana picked up the silver chain that trailed on the floor.
David stared at the cuff on his ankle. “Yeah. If that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it’s okay with me, but… what will people think?” She glanced up, then her eyes brightened. “I know!” She jumped to her feet and rushed to her vanity again, this time picking up something that glinted. She found David’s scabbard abandoned on the hardwood and drew the blade.
His eyes bugged. “Princess, do you know what you’re doing with that? It’s—”
“It’s heavier than I thought it would be.” Elana juggled the sword, then stepped to the bed. “Hold still.”
“Princess, I—” he winced as she jammed the sword’s point in one of the chain’s links. With a grunt, she pried it apart. The chain fell to the floor, but the fur-lined shackle remained on his ankle.
He stared open-mouthed as Elana tossed away the sword. She attached whatever she’d retrieved from the vanity to the chain and held it up, opening and closing the clip experimentally. “That’s better, don’t you think?”
“I don’t understand.”
She pointed at the anklet. “Think you can hide that under a boot?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“And then we can do this.” She hooked the clip through the anklet and tugged. It held just as well as the chain did. “Nothing will change. Outside, you’re King David of Cerces.” She ducked her head in a mock bow. “In this room, you’re the rebel who stole my kingdom from me.”
Davis smiled. “I can live with that. Thanks, Princess.”
She picked up the tight metal necklace and freed its pendant, the key to the anklet. “Should we keep this?”
“Just in case.”
“Okay.” She strung the key back onto the necklace and closed it around his neck. “If you ever want it.” She untied his left foot, but showed him the brown stains littering his sole. “I need to finish, but you squirm too much. Think I can get Aldien to get a set of stocks set up in here? One that I can tie your toes back to.”
David’s blood ran cold. “I don’t doubt it, Princess.”
“Great!” She clapped her hands. “Maybe we can get it here by tomorrow. Before that stuff really sets in and becomes a tattoo. What do you think?”
“Thank you. For everything.” David shrugged off the towel and checked his chest. There wasn’t a speck of brown left behind, and she was right. The soap did smell good. “It’s been a really long day.”
“It has.” Elana craned her neck to check the clock at the head of the bed. “Gods, I tickled you for two hours.”
“It felt like longer.” He collapsed on the pile of pillows, but jumped as he was hauled back down by the anklet. “What the— Princess, what now?”
“I have to say thank you, too.” She climbed onto the bed. “We owe you our lives.”
“That’s not true. Elana!” he yelped as she pulled his pants down to his ankles. At once his member rose.
Elana shrugged off her clothes and padded toward him, bare feet soundless on the hardwood. “Can you do this?”
David nodded mutely. Any word could wake him from this dream.
“Okay, rebel.” She straddled his waist and groaned as she sank onto him, her black waves falling over both of their shoulders. David gasped. Her hair smelled of berries and the woodlands that surrounded his castle. Elana had nestled her head in the crook of his neck, taking in whatever flowery scent she’d bathed him in. Then she started bouncing, sinking her teeth in his shoulder.
David froze, overwhelmed; maybe he had been through too much the past day. Still, he panted, moving in tandem with her. Elana jerked, eyes wide, then her passage started to milk him. David fell backwards out of her grip and gasped, the stress flooding out of him. Elana threw her head back and fell aside, a mess dripping between her legs.
She smiled. “How was that?”
“I love you.”
“What?”
“I love you, Elana.” David pressed his head against her chest. “With everything I have. I love you.”
“David,” she mumbled. “Fuck. I do too.” She pulled his head up and kissed him deeply. “All right, rebel. King David of Cerces and Queen Elana of Astal. Think we can do it?”
“I think we can.” David kissed her forehead, then sleep finally took him as he collapsed onto Elana’s chest.
<b>THE END</b>
<b><i> I’m thinking about making War’s End a series, as in spin-offs in the same world with different couples. Possibly another F/M and one M/M featuring Samuel. I make sure my stories are finished before I start posting it, and this is the first time I’ve written anything like this. If my craft needs work before I write another piece, please tell me.
Thanks again for your support.
-Ash</b></i>
“Bullshit.” Samuel kicked the lock holding David in the stocks and lifted him free. “You look like hell. What have they been doing to you? I’ve never seen you like this.”
“You’d laugh.”
“Not if it has you like this. Spit it out, kid.”
“Tickling,” David mumbled.
“What?”
“They’ve been tickling me, okay?” He rubbed his head. “How long? I woke up here about when you guys broke into the castle.”
Samuel faltered. “Gods, Dave, that was almost a day ago. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he repeated. “Lemme just… just—” He pushed free of Samuel and staggered a few steps, then collapsed on the padded chair he’d been bound to.
***
“Okay, Dave, you can’t sleep all day. People are waiting for you.”
David shoved Samuel away. “Shaddup, Sam, I’m tired.”
“Yeah, but you aren’t dead, and people need to know that. C’mon, up and at ‘em.” Samuel hauled David upright. David swatted at his hands, but still ended up sitting, a hand pressed to his forehead. He prodded his temple and found a bandage.
“Not sure what those guards were doing to you, but you took a nasty hit back there.” Samuel winked at him. “Good to see you on your feet.”
“Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.” He pondered it. “More than one. Way more than one.”
“Shut up and get your act together.” Samuel smacked his shoulder. “You need to go out there and talk to Cerces.”
Of course. He turned. “Did we win?”
Samuel grinned. “Of course we did. Now go out there and be a leader.”
“You should come with me, Sam. I didn’t do any of this.”
“Oh, yeah, you did. Cerces wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you.” Samuel laughed. “I’m just a general that stepped up when you vanished off the face of the Earth.”
That’s right. “Sam… I fell asleep in the castle and woke up in Astal. Do you have any idea how that happened?”
Samuel went rigid. “Relo.”
“Relo? Really?”
“Yeah. A while ago I figured out we were getting shipments from Astal’s army. Weapons and food, things like that. It didn’t make sense, so I went to Relo, and he said there were some people in the army who thought we were a good cause.” He cursed. “Gods, I’m such an idiot. He traded you for it!”
“Relo,” David echoed again. It made sense. He and Samuel were the only ones with access to David’s quarters in the castle, and Samuel had been at the front lines for days when David first found himself in Elana’s bedroom.
“I can take care of him, Dave.”
“Don’t kill him.”
Samuel stopped halfway through drawing his longsword. “What?”
“If he hadn’t betrayed us, this never would’ve worked.” His voice dropped. “I’d never have met Elana.”
“Right.” Samuel let go of his sword hilt. “So what do I do with him?”
“My days here weren’t always in the arms of Astal’s princess.” He shot Samuel a glare. “Remember that chair you found me in?”
“Yeah?”
“Lock him in there. Every warrior in our militia can have a chance at him. Let’s tickle that bastard to death.”
“You know he’s an orphan, right?”
“Close enough.” David laughed and opened the door. “Leave him there for three days. And let him have a chamber pot.” He looked down at himself, relieved to see that Samuel had changed his soiled clothes while he was out cold. “It’s more than what I had.”
“Okay, Dave.” Samuel nodded. “You’re a good man, you know that, right?”
“Trust me, I wasn’t.” David offered him a smile. “But I’ve met someone.”
“Oh, I know.” Samuel waved. “Now go out there and get her.”
“Thanks, Sam!” David rushed out the door, down a hall, and burst onto a bridge overlooking a foyer. The ballroom below was packed with an odd mixture of guards and warriors in makeshift armor, shoulder to shoulder and the sound deafening.
Elana stood at the far end of the bridge, eyes downcast.
“Princess!” David rushed toward her. She hardly turned before he swept her up in his arms.
“David! I thought you were hurt—” she touched the bandage on his temple. “Gods, you’re just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you?” She smiled. “Now put me down so we can talk to this army of yours.”
“Good idea.” He set her down and turned back to the crowd. Well, he didn’t have to get their attention. That little display had them riveted.
He stepped away from Elana. “Morning, warriors of Cerces, guards of Astal. You may recognize me. I’m David, Prince of Cerces.”
“And I’m Elana of Astal,” she added.
“Today, you have made history.” David smiled. “We are free thanks to your bravery.”
“Queen Taria, who usurped the throne, has been killed!” Elana announced.
The crowd roared, and David glanced at her. She shot him a genuine smile. So while he had been trapped and tortured by guards, Cerces had found and killed the queen. Elana was the uncontested heir to Astal’s throne.
“King David!” someone called.
“King David!” The crowd picked up the chant and it soon deafened the pair.
They exchanged glances, then raised intertwined hands. “We’ll take charge together.”
Silence fell.
“I may have led this rebellion, but this crown is not mine,” David began. “I will be a king in name, if that’s what it takes. However, this kingdom belongs to Elana.”
“I am happy to share this with you, David.” Elana clasped her other hand around his. “Whatever power you need, it’s yours.”
The crowd roared again as they raised their intertwined hands once more.
Samuel approached them on the bridge. “Some speech, Dave. And I take it that this is Elana?”
“Samuel?” Elana shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet the man who taught David all his tricks.”
“Gods, is that what he’s been doing?” Samuel laughed as David reddened. “Well, good to know that wasn’t a waste of time.” He winked at her. “Good catch. But don’t play around with my best friend’s heart, okay?”
“Never,” she agreed. “All right. I guess back to my bedroom?”
“I was about to suggest the same thing.” David followed her toward her quarters, still holding her hand.
They passed Cilen outside the dusty war room. The general nursed a wound on her arm, but smiled as they passed.
Elana closed the door behind them. “Well, I can’t believe that’s been sorted out. I spent the past day hiding in the guard barracks— oh!”
David knelt at her feet and offered her his wrists. He’d shed his shirt and boots and sat with his head bowed. “Thank you for your help, Princess.”
“Rebel, what are you doing?” She craned her neck. He’d snapped on the fur-lined cuff that had bound him to her bedpost, its silver chain glittering against the hardwood floor and through the plush carpet David knelt on.
“I’m not dumb. Power always comes at a price, doesn’t it?” He raised his eyes. “So take it.”
“No, David.” She planted her hands on her hips, and David’s mouth fell open. “You’re the one taking me for dumb.” She walked around him and fished another silk belt from her closet. “You like this.”
David reddened. “Of course I don’t. But I have honor—”
She cut him off with a kiss, and as she deepened it she tied the belt around his wrists. “Bullshit, rebel.” She pulled him to his feet by his bound wrists, then pushed him back until he hit the bed, tripped, and fell into its silken sheets.
David closed his eyes, ready as she sat him against her pile of pillows and straddled him. Then she surprised him again by grabbing his chin and pulling his head aside to examine the bandage on his temple. “How did you get this?” She sat up, gesturing over the brown boot polish stains that still littered his chest and feet.
“Guards. I was caught, and they knew how to torture me.” He hung his head.
“Is that why no one’s seen you for a day?” She ran her fingers across his chin and down his collarbone, making his eyelids flutter. “David, they tickled you for hours nonstop. How can you still want more?”
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “Maybe… maybe because it’s you.”
“You idiot.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she kissed him again. “All you had to do was ask.”
He looked away, reddening even more. “I’m not that— that—”
“So you still have an ego in there after all.” Elana smiled, then got off of him and stood. “Alright, king, let’s see how honorable you really are.” She made her way to her vanity and fumbled through its drawers, finally dropping a brush onto its tabletop. “There it is.” She raised it. “Boot brush. I’ve never used it. Don’t really need to.” She dropped it on the bed by David’s feet, and he pulled away before he could stop himself.
Elana raised her eyebrows. “Well, that explains the stains.” She touched one on his foot and he closed his eyes. “Gods, you’re covered in this stuff.” She pulled her box of tools out from under the bed and picked out a fluffy rag. David grimaced, but let her cross her legs over his ankle. She first brushed the rag over the stains, then scrubbed them, struggling as David tried to kick free.
“It’s not coming off.” Elana frowned and looked up at David, who had sunk his teeth into his wrist in an effort to keep from laughing. “Guess the next thing is to try to get it off the same way they put it on you.”
David yanked free and curled up into a ball as she grabbed the boot brush again. She blinked, glanced at the brush, then laughed. “You’re not going to be able to hold still, are you?”
“I couldn’t hold still for the rag,” he pointed out, pulling a pillow into his lap and hugging it.
“Nope.” She waved a hand. “You smell awful. I’m not letting you destroy my sheets.” She pulled a towel off her closet door and laid it across her bed. “On.”
David crawled onto it, clumsy with his hands tied in front of him. It was almost as comfortable as the bed itself. Elana smiled, then grabbed the corners of the towel and yanked it up until David’s head hit the pillows. Some collapsed on his face, and he struggled. “Princess—”
“Sorry.” She adjusted them, then tucked one under David’s head and swept the hair out of his eyes. “There we go.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
“Don’t thank me just yet. We still have to get to the fun part.” There was a splash, and David sat up. Elana was wrist deep in a bucket, soap lather spilling over its sides. He stared as she dunked the brush into it, then the rag, too.
She grinned at him. “Don’t worry. It’s scented.”
Its scent was the last thing he was concerned about. He laid back down and stared at the bed’s canopy. This had been a mistake.
“Alright, hands up.”
He lifted his bound wrists over his head and closed his eyes as she undid the knot. Her hand, fingers thin, wet, and chilled by the soap water, pulled his arm back until he grunted, and the familiar feeling of a knot being tied around his wrist followed. Her weight came off the bed, and David reached up, catching the silk belt that held him. The knot around his wrist was almost unpickable. Not like he’d have enough mental power to try to pick knots.
He jerked as Elana grabbed his right foot, and he raised his head to watch her put a hand towel under it. She hummed as she pulled his leg out until he strained, then tied it to the bedpost with another silk belt. She smiled at him as she pulled a leather string through the belt and around his big and fourth toes, stopping to run it between his other toes. David yelped and twisted, kicking at her. Elana jumped back before his free foot caught her in the face. David tensed, then laid back down, staring at the canopy with his face red.
Elana pulled his other foot to the bedpost, helped by the furry cuff that David himself had clapped back around his ankle. She knew better than to make the same mistake again, this time simply tying back his toes. She came around the bed and knelt on the comforter by his head. “Last chance, rebel. Do you really want to do this?”
David glanced at her and nodded, biting his lip.
“All right, you masochist.” She messed up his hair and pulled his left arm up. David closed his eyes, chest tight as he strained in the spread eagle. Elana wasn’t done, though. She padded around the bed and fumbled through the box once more. David craned his head to watch her through his mess of hair. “Okay, one more time.” She sat up with a strip of cloth. “No Taria to use as an excuse this time. Yes or no?”
David stared at the blindfold for a long moment, then nodded.
“Yes or no, rebel.”
“Yes,” he croaked, and leaned up so she could tie it around his head.
“You keep surprising me.” Elana splashed around some more in the soap bucket. “David of Cerces just asked me to tie him down and tickle him to death. If I look outside, do you think I’ll see flying pigs?”
“Shut up,” he grumbled.
“What was that?” Her voice came from his left this time, and he jerked.
“Nothing. I just mean… the last time you blindfolded me was amazing.”
“I edged you for an hour, David. You were almost out cold by the end of it.” Her voice came from the foot of the bed this time.
“Because I felt your every touch.” He lowered his head, lost. Blackness, her pumping him over and over until it burned…
“Are you really reminiscing over that, rebel? It’s not hard to do it again.” From his right again. He jerked as she set a hand on his crotch, but got nowhere, the ties holding him down.
“Not today, Princess. I’m tired.” It wasn’t a lie. Maybe. Was it?
“So should I leave you here until you feel up to it?”
He shook his head. He was growing stiffer by the second, her hand’s warmth seeping through his pants. At last she stepped away, and he sighed.
She dropped the brush on his chest, the frigid water splashing across his stomach. He flinched and fell short, immobile.
“Is it still that cold? I thought it would’ve warmed up by now…” she mumbled to herself, then scrubbed a brown stain that crossed his right nipple.
<i>“No! Nah ha! Nohohot thehehere! Princehehess!” </i>David yanked on the silk bonds and, as always, found no purchase.
She kissed his forehead, already slick with sweat. “Don’t worry, rebel. It’s starting to come out. Not very quickly, though.”
“No,” he mumbled, then lurched as the brush found his left side. <i>“NO! Nahaha!”</i>
“Gods, it really isn’t coming off.”
<i>“Princehehess, stahahap! NAH! NO!” </i>David thrashed as best he could.
“What? So should I go for your scar, then?”
<i>“NO! NO NO NAHAHAhaha! Haha…” </i> The brush found the scar that covered half his stomach. Darkness, not the gray of the cloth covering his eyes but a true, deep night, began to fold over him.
“David?” Elana’s voice cut through the ringing in his ears. “Are you okay? I can stop—”
“Is my chest clean?”
“What? No.”
“Then clean it. Just… slower, okay?”
She laughed. “Okay, rebel. Slower. I think I’ve gotten most of it, anyway. This should be enough.” David flinched as the cold rag hit his stomach. He bit his lip as Elana continued.
“But you’re not going to like this next bit.” She tapped the top of his foot, and he jumped.
“Gods, no! Princess, are you sure there isn’t another way—”
“You asked for this.”
He had. He laid back and sighed, grimacing as the brush clattered in the soap bucket. It was Elana hovering over him, wiping his chest down until he snickered. Elana, not those gods-damned guards. Elana, who picked up the brush again and dragged it down his chest, stopping just short of the scar wrapping around his side and navel.
<i>“PRINCESS! NO! STAHAHAP! Nahahaha!”</i> He gasped for air like a fish. If he could see, it might be better, but there was still a boot brush scrubbing between his nipples. He struggled, whipping his head around until beads of sweat flew off his hair.
Elana stopped again. He jumped as she set her weight on the bed, but she reached over him with a creak of springs and retrieved the bandage he’d shaken off his temple. “David, I’m not sure about this. You’re going to start bleeding again.”
“I heal quick,” he said.
“I know you do. But it’s been what, a day? You took a pretty bad knock to the head.”
“It’s been two days. And I was in worse shape when we first met.” He took deep breaths, taking advantage of the break.
“That’s true,” she mused, “but I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You think you can hurt me?”
Elana stood. “There it is. And right when I think I’ve cut your ego down to size, too.”
A pair of hands dug into his armpits. He shrieked and arched his back as much as he could, but Elana straddled his waist and pinned him to the towel.
“I’m not done washing your chest, anyway.” She moved around, and with a slosh a second weight dropped next to him. “There we go. Much better.”
What had he gotten himself into? And he though the first bit was bad—
“I think I missed some spots. Here’s one.” The brush hit his nipple with a splash of suds, and David craned back, mouth wide in a silent scream. She continued to scrub away, and he struggled as much as he could. Somewhere in the flurry of sensations pelting his mind, he heard her laughing.
Maybe he was a masochist. But she was definitely a sadist.
Her weight shifted. David finally got in some proper air between his wheezing, then lost it all in a gasp as Elana touched his feet. “Princess, I’m cold. I need to dry up before we do anything else.”
“Make up your mind, rebel.” The bucket hit the hardwood with a clang. “I know what I’m doing.”
The brush hit the sole of his foot.
<i>“NAHAHAHA! NO! IT FEHEHELS SO BAHAHAHAD!”</i> David threw his head back.
“You’re in this for a while, rebel. Your feet are completely covered in this stuff.” She hummed to herself. “Maybe it’s better if I use my nails, too…”
<i>“NO NOHOHOHO!” </i>He stopped fighting the ties and just let Elana have her way. He was just hurting himself, anyway. His bad shoulder was already a mess.
“I can’t get between your toes.” David’s head shot up as he heard her pace away. There was a familiar rattle as she messed with her vanity, then she returned to the foot of the bed. “This should do the trick. Maybe this will give you a good reason to hate this thing.” She dunked her new toy into the soap bucket with a splash, then ran the comb between his pinned toes.
<i>“NAIII—”</i> his voice broke and his shriek tailed off into something inaudible. He was still laughing, but his throat was too raw to make a sound.
Elana stood. “Too much. Okay, David, you’ve had enough.” She ripped off his blindfold, which had been plastered to his face with sweat.
David blinked blearily through the bedroom’s lamplight and mumbled a “thank you” as she tossed another towel over him. He had been shivering, from the feel of it.
“I’ve never met anyone as brave as you, you know?” She undid the silk ties holding his arms down and brought him to a seat. “Stupid, too, but I guess that comes with the territory.”
David grunted as she slid behind him and pulled the towel up to his shoulders. “Thank you.”
“It wasn’t really a compliment.” She set the heel of her hand in David’s back, where his bad shoulder met his spine.
He groaned and melted in her arms. “You always know exactly where it is.”
“I’ve been doing this a while.” She kissed his ear. “Now hold still while I finish.”
He slumped over, gasping as she hit knots. After a moment, he realized she was just rubbing his shoulders. “Princess?”
“Do you really want to be taken prisoner again, David?”
“Maybe not a prisoner.” David undid the tie holding his right foot. She’d scrubbed his sole spotless. “I just don’t want things to change between us just because your stepmother isn’t looking over our shoulders anymore.”
“This is what you don’t want to change?” Elana picked up the silver chain that trailed on the floor.
David stared at the cuff on his ankle. “Yeah. If that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it’s okay with me, but… what will people think?” She glanced up, then her eyes brightened. “I know!” She jumped to her feet and rushed to her vanity again, this time picking up something that glinted. She found David’s scabbard abandoned on the hardwood and drew the blade.
His eyes bugged. “Princess, do you know what you’re doing with that? It’s—”
“It’s heavier than I thought it would be.” Elana juggled the sword, then stepped to the bed. “Hold still.”
“Princess, I—” he winced as she jammed the sword’s point in one of the chain’s links. With a grunt, she pried it apart. The chain fell to the floor, but the fur-lined shackle remained on his ankle.
He stared open-mouthed as Elana tossed away the sword. She attached whatever she’d retrieved from the vanity to the chain and held it up, opening and closing the clip experimentally. “That’s better, don’t you think?”
“I don’t understand.”
She pointed at the anklet. “Think you can hide that under a boot?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“And then we can do this.” She hooked the clip through the anklet and tugged. It held just as well as the chain did. “Nothing will change. Outside, you’re King David of Cerces.” She ducked her head in a mock bow. “In this room, you’re the rebel who stole my kingdom from me.”
Davis smiled. “I can live with that. Thanks, Princess.”
She picked up the tight metal necklace and freed its pendant, the key to the anklet. “Should we keep this?”
“Just in case.”
“Okay.” She strung the key back onto the necklace and closed it around his neck. “If you ever want it.” She untied his left foot, but showed him the brown stains littering his sole. “I need to finish, but you squirm too much. Think I can get Aldien to get a set of stocks set up in here? One that I can tie your toes back to.”
David’s blood ran cold. “I don’t doubt it, Princess.”
“Great!” She clapped her hands. “Maybe we can get it here by tomorrow. Before that stuff really sets in and becomes a tattoo. What do you think?”
“Thank you. For everything.” David shrugged off the towel and checked his chest. There wasn’t a speck of brown left behind, and she was right. The soap did smell good. “It’s been a really long day.”
“It has.” Elana craned her neck to check the clock at the head of the bed. “Gods, I tickled you for two hours.”
“It felt like longer.” He collapsed on the pile of pillows, but jumped as he was hauled back down by the anklet. “What the— Princess, what now?”
“I have to say thank you, too.” She climbed onto the bed. “We owe you our lives.”
“That’s not true. Elana!” he yelped as she pulled his pants down to his ankles. At once his member rose.
Elana shrugged off her clothes and padded toward him, bare feet soundless on the hardwood. “Can you do this?”
David nodded mutely. Any word could wake him from this dream.
“Okay, rebel.” She straddled his waist and groaned as she sank onto him, her black waves falling over both of their shoulders. David gasped. Her hair smelled of berries and the woodlands that surrounded his castle. Elana had nestled her head in the crook of his neck, taking in whatever flowery scent she’d bathed him in. Then she started bouncing, sinking her teeth in his shoulder.
David froze, overwhelmed; maybe he had been through too much the past day. Still, he panted, moving in tandem with her. Elana jerked, eyes wide, then her passage started to milk him. David fell backwards out of her grip and gasped, the stress flooding out of him. Elana threw her head back and fell aside, a mess dripping between her legs.
She smiled. “How was that?”
“I love you.”
“What?”
“I love you, Elana.” David pressed his head against her chest. “With everything I have. I love you.”
“David,” she mumbled. “Fuck. I do too.” She pulled his head up and kissed him deeply. “All right, rebel. King David of Cerces and Queen Elana of Astal. Think we can do it?”
“I think we can.” David kissed her forehead, then sleep finally took him as he collapsed onto Elana’s chest.
<b>THE END</b>
<b><i> I’m thinking about making War’s End a series, as in spin-offs in the same world with different couples. Possibly another F/M and one M/M featuring Samuel. I make sure my stories are finished before I start posting it, and this is the first time I’ve written anything like this. If my craft needs work before I write another piece, please tell me.
Thanks again for your support.
-Ash</b></i>
