To Love, Once Again

Chapter 39

A young boy, one long cowlick curling straight out the top of his head, pokes his messy red haired head out through the dog hole he'd discovered long ago in his adventure time. Ignoring the frantic calls of the maids who were searching for him, he wiggles his round little butt out of the bramble, small arms and legs pumping to propel himself forward.

He turns around and pulls at a raggedy white bunny doll that was tangled in the bush behind him, the soft long ears flopping around as he hugs it to his chest.

"Time to find Mama!" He says brightly, nose and cheeks pink from the exercise. With a hop in his small steps, he wanders off into the castle.

——————————

"Sire, the wedding guests have begun to arrive."

The head butler stepped into the study, back straight, awaiting his King's instructions. The stream of servants, nobles, and ministers seemed to be gradually increasing, every day Sera spent at Lucien's side. The Minister of War, a grizzled old general, coming in for a consultation on the army budget. 

Icaros was gone most of the time now, off training who-knows-where.

A King's wedding was an extravagant affair. Even before the wedding preparations were finished, the rooms in the castle were prepped and ready, dusted and aired for the nobles and visiting delegations from the neighboring regions.

Sera couldn't help feeling bitter jealousy as she helped with the preparations, organizing the lists of rooms and names in her seat next to Lucien at his desk. Today, she was dressed in a gorgeously crafted deep blue dress, tiny walnut buttons lining the front of the dress, with a cinched in corset and swooping balloon sleeves. Day by day, the dresses seemed to get more and more extravagant. The technical craftsmanship was superb. But as a girl who was used to wearing jeans and a t-shirt, she couldn't tell for sure. Hilda hadn't given her a clear answer when she asked, hemming and hawing, and finally trailing off into silence.

Sera didn't know, that over the 5 years that she was gone, Lucien had been amassing a huge wardrobe filled with dresses of every color and shape. For every spring missed in Thornmere, there was a collection of spring dresses. For summer, dresses, hats, and riding clothes, and so on. The cost of it altogether was enough to buy a country. The money for these things came from the spoils of war that Lucien had earned himself. These clothes and accessories were being gradually added to her new closet installed in Lucien's room. Every morning since the challenge, frothy skirts, round white pearl necklaces, and ribboned shoes laid on the bed and over the chair and hanging on a hanger, waiting to be picked out.

It was always an awkward conversation in the mornings. Hilda would enter the King's room with a few other maids that quietly murmured as they helped Sera take a morning bath and dress.

She knew they would talk about the lovemaking marks all over her body later. The red marks were now blossoming all over her inner thighs, not just on her neck and chest. Daily, they were increasing. Sera didn't know what her back looked like, but she knew there were marks there too, judging by the gasps she'd heard when she turned to was he back in the bath, attended to by the maids. Lucien was taking her with gusto every night. They even slept together in the King's chamber now, together on the bed, instead of Sera being next door. She hadn't bothered to protest. Some mornings, she would wake up early and feel Lucien's hard, toned body spooning hers, surrounded by his warmth and scent, and feel so secure.

This morning, a rose-colored upholstered chair was a new addition in the King's study. It sat dwarfed by Lucien's large leather chair, and Sera hadn't noticed it at first, moving to stand on the side next to Lucien's chair as he sat.