A Royal Rebellion Page 3

  Percy was well used to owning nothing, and following orders exactly. Living with minimal belongings, eating when only hungry, and having little clothing was of no bother to Percy, and he did his best to keep from being a burden to either Edward or Reynard. All he did was read, sleep, and ask questions about the world around him when Edward and Reynard needed the distraction from each other’s company.

  Percy left the bathroom, quietly walking back towards the bed, looking at Edward where he was sprawled on the mattress. Edward must have rolled over on his back while he was in the bathroom, and Edward’s naked body was on display, half in shadow.

  Tanned skin, body relatively hairless but for a neatly trimmed patch on his groin, and covered in defined muscles, Edward was a sight to see. Thick, wavy black hair and dark brown eyes paired with chiseled cheeks and a string jaw crafted the ideal image of a prince. Edward was handsome, and charming, and sweet, and he made love to Percy with a fierceness that left him breathless.

  Percy let his eyes drift, sweeping down Edward’s chest, over the planes of his stomach to his groin. Percy’s breath hitched, and he licked his lips. He shifted on his feet, and his hole fluttered, clenching slightly before relaxing. Percy moaned, a soft breathy sigh of sound, and he felt a tiny bit of dampening between his ass cheeks. Suddenly he was aroused, his slim cock plumping up and growing, his now-aching hole growing wetter, and his hands trembled with the desire to touch.

  He inched closer to the bed, heart tripping, his body wakening in the most delicious way imaginable. Desire always rode him hard, but this time it was coming over him in a spine-tingling rush.

  “Edward?” he whispered, reaching out, fingertips trailing across smooth skin and hard muscles. His master’s skin was hot to the touch, or perhaps that was him? He was burning, a deep ache settling in at the base of his spine, his internal muscles clamping and releasing, as if Edward was already buried balls deep inside of him. He put the heel of his hand over the swell in his abdomen, and the firmness there where their child grew only made him moan some more. Just the thought, the touch to confirm his body already succored Edward’s seed was enough to tip him over the edge into arousal-laced madness.

  Somehow he ended up on top of Edward, nipping and whimpering. Edward woke with a gasp that quickly gave way to indulgent chuckles, and Percy found himself flipped, on his back and under his master. Percy spread his legs, opening himself wide, and Edward lowered his hips down between them.

  “Hello, my love,” Edward murmured, licking at the side of his neck, making Percy groan and squirm, aching and empty. He wanted his master in him, and now. “Do you need something?”

  A growing hardness against his hip and the sure, knowledgeable fingers suddenly playing with his wet hole told him Edward knew exactly what he wanted, what he needed.

  “Please,” he begged, as Edward merely teased his hole and spread his juices around, slicking his crease. “Please fuck me.”

  “You beg so prettily,” Edward husked, kissing him deep and hard, stealing his breath, even as his fingers left and the wide, hard head of his cock nudged at Percy’s eager opening. The natural slick his body produced gave Edward more than enough lubrication, and Percy moaned into Edward’s mouth as he was steadily and mercilessly impaled on long, thick, hot flesh.

  His body opened, muscles caressing and milking the huge cock filling him. Edward kept kissing him, pushing in until he was fully seated, cockhead knocking on the closed entrance to his womb. Edward pushed just a bit harder, and Percy went wild, ripping his mouth away from Edward’s and clawing at his shoulders and back. He cried and sobbed, and Edward pulled back, leaving only a few inches, before surging forward again, snapping his hips so he pushed in almost too far. Percy’s muscles were strong and resistant, and his body accepted the rough fucking readily.

  Edward lifted his shoulders up, bracing his upper torso on his elbows, and he looked down between them, where his hips pistoned between Percy’s spread thighs. Percy grabbed his knees and opened himself further, and Edward took advantage of the increased access by thrusting harder, deeper, opening Percy completely. Percy arched into the thrusts, angling his hips so Edward hit him in just the right spot, his chute beginning to tighten as his orgasm approached. Edward groaned, feeling it begin, and took him harder, too an impossible degree.

  Wet slaps of flesh and the scent of liquid sex filled the air. The old bed creaked and complained at the rough use, and Percy gripped the sheets, tearing them as he wrapped his legs around Edward’s hips.

  Percy’s slim cock was now trapped between Edward’s abdomen and the baby bump, and Percy squealed at the delicious friction, coming apart instantly in an orgasm that left him shrieking as he came. Hot spurts of his seed shot from his cock, and his chute clamped down on Edward’s cock, halting his thrusts immediately. Edward was sucked back in by the powerful muscles that left Percy different from every other soul in the world, giving Edward no options other than to come, and hard.

  Edward threw back his head, shouting, eyes clenched tight, sweat pouring down his temples, hands gripping Percy’s shoulders as his back bowed. Percy came again when Edward erupted inside him, thick, hot liquid ropes of semen filling Percy’s ass, the flow stopping at his sealed womb, making him feel incredibly over-full before the seed began to pulse out around the tight seal his ass had on the hard flesh stretching him wide.

  Edward collapsed on top of him, panting hard, sweaty and hot to the touch. Percy gasped at each pulse of seed from his master, Percy’s body milking all it could from his prince. He may be pregnant already, but his body still went through the motions of acquiring his partner’s seed, and Edward jolted at each hard clench on his cock. He was still hard, moaning and twitching as Percy’s body took what it needed from him.

  He lost track of how long they were locked together. Edward released his seed in him a handful of times before Percy’s body relaxed, its demanding grip easing up enough for Edward to pull out. They both groaned as the connection was lost, and Edward rolled to his back, pulling Percy with him and on his chest. Percy lay limp and satisfied, Edward’s hands tracing over his damp skin and rubbing his hips.

  He was wet and damp and cold between his legs where the night air touched the remnants of their passion, but he was too sated to care.

  “I love you, Edward,” Percy whispered in the dark, pressing a kiss to his lover’s chest over his heart.

  Edward gently hugged him, and whispered in return, “I love you too, little one.”

  Chapter Three

  Reynard

  He stood in the hall, gun in hand, and he smiled at his reaction. He’d awakened to hear Percy screaming, and rushed for the room where his prince and the royal consort slept, heart pounding. He got to the door, and instead of hearing them fighting off royal guards, he caught the tail end of a passionate encounter that left him adjusting a partial erection in his sweatpants. The lovers were rarely quiet, Percy being incredibly vocal and demanding when he was in the throes of passion. Reynard had been subject to their sessions many a time, his duties as royal guard keeping him within sight or sound of his charges at all times, even when they didn’t know it, so this was not the first time, nor would it be the last, that he would be able to hear them having sex.

  Reynard walked away from the door, and since he was awake, got dressed, intending to do a perimeter sweep around the small cottage. He pulled on his clothes, tucked a firearm at the base of his spine inside his waistband, and a jacket on his way out. He closed the front door quietly, not wanting to alarm his charges. Percy was easily frightened, though his courage was growing with every day that passed, and Edward was hanging on to his composure by a thread. His prince, while used to the pressures of his rank and duties, was at a loss when it came to living away from the comforts of wealth and royalty. Edward was far from spoiled—but his prince was just that—a prince, and accustomed to a certain lifestyle.

  Reynard prowled through the cold shadows, the cottage they were occupying on the outskirts of a
small micro-city just off the royal highway. The area was partially abandoned, its remaining citizens poor, older, or incapable of moving to one of the larger cities closer to the capital. It was out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to recommend it to tourists, and so the settlement that developed when the great highways system was first built almost a hundred years ago was steadily losing people to death and time and lack of interest. Over half the houses and businesses were empty, and the streets were pitted and cracked.

  The SUV he traded for Mason’s sleek beast of a car was hunkered down in the deep shadows next to the small cottage, pointed toward the road for a fast getaway if they were tracked here. They were almost 800 miles from Cassia City, and they had another 1500 miles to go to get to the border with Elysian. As a country, Cassia was one of the largest in the world, occupying a huge portion of the northern half of the largest continent. It was also the longest ruled, single-dynasty monarchy in history, the line of Airric unbroken for two thousand years. Two of his descendants were within shouting distance of him now, and Reynard took the job of protecting Edward, Percy and their unborn babe seriously. It was an honor to serve the Cassian Dynasty, even if some of its members were spoiled brats and fractured souls.

  Edward was worth his weight in gold. The youngest blood prince was humble, honest, braver than he had any reason to be, intelligent and even-tempered. He didn’t know Edward as well as he did Mason, but then he was only recently assigned to Edward’s detail as a captain. Mason, that prince, that man…he knew very well.

  Reynard finished his sweep, the nearest sounds of life blocks away and muted. It was quiet, and cold, and the skies above were crystal clear and sparkling, a wide swath of stars filling the horizon end to end.

  He leaned against the SUV’s hood, crossing his legs at his ankles, hands in his pockets. He watched the sky, and remembered.

  A sarcastic, wry smile. Dark eyes, full of passion and fire. And pain. Hair just beginning to be touched by time, a spattering of white at each temple. Golden skin, firm muscles, and a rich, masculine scent that Reynard would never be able to forget.

  Forgetting Mason, Blood Prince of Cassia, would be impossible. Almost as impossible as saving him. Reynard was tasked by duty and …love, to protect Edward and Percy and their babe. He refused to fail. He would never let them down, and while his heart ached fiercely with the need to save Mason, he couldn’t abandon his charges to do so. Mason was trapped, by his word and his blood, and the only one who could help him was himself.

  ***

  Percy

  Percy stayed behind Edward, one hand clutched in his master’s jacket. They were in the market, Reynard a few steps away, arguing with a shady looking man about accommodations for the night. They had left the derelict micro-city behind, and were now days further east. Ten days in total since they had escaped the capital, and they were all feeling it. They were coming up on a portion of the country that was fully wild and untamed forests, sprinkled with small hamlets and tiny towns, and large, sprawling country estates much like Hartgrove. Here the estates were vineyards and orchards, all dormant in the winter months, surrounded by dense old wood forests.

  The town they were in was near an estate called Estiary, which Percy thought odd. Edward grew grim, mouth tight, and Reynard looked like he was ready to murder someone, but they needed to stop for supplies, and this town was the last one before a long stretch of wilderness. Percy could tell from the way both men were reacting to the name of the town that something was very wrong, and Percy stayed in Edward’s shadow, head down, doing his best to be unobtrusive and forgettable.

  “The inn is your best bet, my lord,” sniveled the odd man Reynard was speaking to, “the one next to the pub. The Discontent Noble is the pub’s name. Can’t miss it.”

  The odd man, thin and whip-like with a narrow countenance and gray overtones to everything from hair to skin, pointed down the length of the market. “The bar and pub are closed until noon, then open for lunch and evening business.”

  “Thank you,” Reynard said, dropping a golden half-piece coin in the man’s hand before nodding and walking back towards where he and Edward were waiting next to a wall. The odd man watched them as Reynard walked away, biting the coin before grinning and ducking out of sight in the crowd.

  “He was a bit …off,” Edward murmured to the captain once he was in earshot. “Will he cause us trouble?”

  “Probably, but we haven’t got much in the way of options.” Reynard jerked his head down the market, and Percy and Edward followed him, Percy between both men. Edward had his arm around his shoulders, and Reynard walked close enough to touch him, their arms occasionally brushing. He felt dwarfed and sheltered between them, and he was thankful he had yet to feel smothered. Reynard continued speaking, voice low, head tilted down to make it harder for them to be overheard. “If we had secure computer access or untraceable cells, this would be easier, but I asked around. This whole village is owned by the local nobleman, and there’s only one inn. No apartments for rent or lease, no vacant homes we can take over without being noticed. The estate controls the power, the internet, even the local cell tower, so I believe everything is monitored, nothing secure.”

  Reynard frowned, glaring back down the length of the market. “So unless you want to rough it in the forest, we have little choice but to stay at the inn.”

  Percy shivered, thinking back to how uncomfortable it had been a few nights back, sleeping at a rest stop off the highway between towns. He may fit comfortably in the rear of the SUV, but Edward and Reynard were too large to find any decent rest in the vehicle.

  “Should we risk staying at a public establishment?” Edward asked, tone curt, arm about Percy’s shoulder tightening. “What if someone sees us and reports us to the authorities?”

  “Just having you two walk around in public is too much of a risk, if you’re going to be asking that,” Reynard snapped, “but since every time I suggest you stay behind with Percy, you claim it’s safer if we stay together…”

  “Because it is!” Edward hissed, stopping in the middle of the market, glaring over Percy’s head at Reynard, who stopped as well. Percy bit his lip and looked nervously between the two big men, wondering if he should worry about ducking. “I may know how to shoot a gun, and throw a punch, but I’m no defense for my mate if we’re cornered by the royal guards, and you know it! So yes, we need to stay together, because you are his best chance at surviving this, I’ll not have us separated again!”

  Reynard’s brows went up at that declaration, dark blue eyes calming, and his gaze searching as he looked at the prince. Percy slid his hand to rest on Edward’s side, feeling how hard his lover was breathing, how tense he was, so taut he trembled. Edward was beyond stressed.

  Reynard stepped so close to Edward that Percy was pressed between them, his back to Edward’s chest, Reynard firm and strong along his front. Percy shivered, not entirely certain he disliked where he was, but Edward was ready to snap, so he held very still and waited.

  “My prince,” Reynard said softly, looking Edward in the eye, forcing Percy to tip his head back at his proximity, “If you trust me to keep your mate safe, even above yourself, then please, please trust that I can care for you both, and that I know what I’m doing. If I say it’s safe for us to separate, then trust me. If I say we need to stay together, then we will. In Court, Palace, and country estate, you know best and are master. Yet out here, in the wilds of the common lands, follow my lead. Do you think you can do that?”

  Percy couldn’t see Edward’s face, but after a moment he felt Edward nod, his tense frame slowly relaxing. Edward put his hands on Percy’s shoulders, and turned him from Reynard, pressing his face to his chest. Reynard was still at Percy’s back, the heat from both men in the cold winter air comforting and stimulating at the same time. Percy snuggled into Edward, relieved that the tension seemed to be dissipating for now.

  Reynard put a hand to the back of Percy’s head, tousling his long hair affectionately
before stepping away, leaving his back exposed to the cold elements. Edward hugged him for a moment more, but then tugged him to follow after the captain as he cut through the meager crowd in the square.

  The sign soon appeared for The Discontent Noble, and Percy giggled at the picture of a finely dressed man sitting on a crooked stool, his beer stein spilling, and a cranky expression on his features. Reynard pointed to a nearby recess in a wall, and Edward guided Percy there, turning them away from any curious eyes of those passing by on the street while Reynard entered the pub.

  Percy kissed Edward’s jaw, doing it again until Edward gave him a small smile and hugged him close.

  ***

  Arianna

  Arianna smiled down at her son, little Airric suckling from his bottle with a self-righteous determination. He was as demanding as his siblings, yet somehow she knew that though he was youngest, he would be the ringleader in childhood adventures. Only a few months old, and he watched the world with wise eyes, and his cries for changings and feedings were enough to send the nursery staff running to tend to him.

  The day was cold, winter blustering outside the palace walls, the weather keeping the Court subdued and in their private quarters. Usually at this time of day Arianna would be with Malcolm, leisurely strolling the halls of the palace, making sure to be seen. Yet the weather and the twisted tale Mason told her days before drove her here, surrounded by her children and nieces and nephews.