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The Return

Noah did well to keep his features free of emotion, though the woman’s question saw an idea spring to mind he knew would allow him to sleep that night. He led Emily down to the cells and motioned to the guard to unlock an empty chamber, positioned across from a second that imprisoned a number of fam...

The Return

The king scoffed. “See, useless,” he said. Noah’s brow softened at the mention of his father, but his features took on a stern look again as the king addressed him. “Take her, there is no time to waste. I will not dance about the truth like some moon worshiper.” As the king turned to exit the room, ...

The Return

The man snatched Emily’s wrist and pulled her in. Had he heard her right? “Your majesty!” He shouted, his voice not as deep as Ben’s though his features looked near identical. His hair was a lighter shade of blonde and his eyes a shallow pool of blue compared to the richness of the pair Emily knew. ...

Sorting

The air frizzled and cracked as the gate came to life, lit up like a lightning storm. Electric blue pulses of light rippled like water and the first man appeared from thin air, arms raised to warn the waiting members of the Iron Hand to step back and clear a path. Moments later another man appeared,...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

120 Blaze AK21 [/b] Had he kissed her? Malcolm tortured himself as he lay in bed on the eve of summers end. Had he told her he loved her? Why was the memory already a blur? In the love-haze of holding their twins for the first time, had he told her how truly blessed he felt to call her wife? Malcol...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

As Malcolm pulled the door closed the weight of his new reality seemed to settle in. How in the world were they going to do this, he wondered. Raise two children and help restore the kingdom to a state of peace. He walked the halls, far from himself, not seeing or feeling his own footfalls. On the w...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

Malcolm eagerly accepted the child and held her close, instinctively swaying her back and forth with care. Elyna had asked something but the man had been glued to the tiny bundle of joy in his arms. “Later,” he assured the woman, so that she might rest, undisturbed. “Elsie,” he cooed, it reminded hi...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

Malcolm couldn’t recall crossing the room to peer into the basket, almost as if he had been sleep-walking and had suddenly awoken. He crouched down beside the basket and pressed his hand through the shimmering golden veil and ran the tip of his finger over the little girl’s impossibly tiny, but perf...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

Malcolm stepped back up into the carriage having received the news of the birth of his child. He had not asked after the gender, moving instead in a kind of trance, his thoughts far away. He was followed by Roland and Jared, with Benjamin taking a moment to stare down the stranger in the road who ha...

[Aramane] Letters to a King

Liam delivered the letter in person, the gathered guests of the Bennett residence falling silent as he approached Malcolm, only to be intercepted by Benjamin. Liam glared with quiet rage as he took measure of the man before him. Why Emily had chosen to… well he just couldn’t understand. The Beaumont...

Words on Dreams

Malcolm pulled his arm from her gentle grasp to continue his work. He had not lost his cool and for that he felt he could hold his head high. But for the first time ever, he did not allow her the chance to speak. “I don’t want to hear excuses. You’ve acted in a very unladylike manner,” he scolded. “...

Words on Dreams

The lady’s displeasure was not lost on either man. Jared couldn’t imagine Malcolm doing anything to make his wife feel unwelcome, yet she was clear in begrudging her perceived exclusion. Both men were silent and quite clearly uncomfortable with the suggestion that followed. There was an accusation i...

Words on Dreams

Perfectly well, she had thoroughly convinced him of that in far too many words. Elyna seemed to have this strange ability to get under his skin, fire him up in a way that saw him lose his cool far too quickly. He took a moment, not backing down from whatever challenge her stare proposed, meeting it ...

Words on Dreams

Jared and Malcolm walked along the street in silence. Twice Malcolm glanced at the man as if he had something to say, and twice he failed to say anything. Jared was dressed in black, his silk shirt boasting a deep v-neck, sported only a few small white buttons that held it together. It was tucked in...

Words on Dreams

Malcolm hesitated, confused by Elyna’s dismissive tone. Just go she had said. He paused at the door and looked back at her, something she did not seem to notice. Malcolm carried on to the main house then, taking his time as he considered Elyna’s words. He sighed. Lately he only seemed good at one th...

Breathless

Jared studied the woman. If Owen had fallen out with her, he hadn’t made it known. Jared knew about the letters, but had put it down to Owen trying to protect rather than hinder his brother and any relationship he might seek to form with the noblewoman. What was she hiding, he wondered. What did her...

Words on Dreams

Elyna had not waited too long for an explanation and Malcolm was glad he did not have to give her false reasons. Pavoo had been adamant that Elyna must accompany the family to Welles, along with Caelin and Edmund. Malcolm had not asked why, some things were better left unsaid. He offered a small smi...

Breathless

Jared took his time to consider the woman’s question, almost as if he enjoyed the weight of the sudden tension in the air. Had Malcolm deceived him or was it Elyna who felt that way? “Forgive me if I’ve said too much,” Jared offered. “I assumed the two of you had spoken at length about the idea of a...

Words on Dreams

Malcolm twisted to look up at his wife as she joined him on the bed for a moment to propose they take a day. His smile seemed to suggest he couldn’t see the harm in it. A maid came in to tidy up and help Elyna fill the bath. Malcolm shut the bedroom door and washed up a little from a wooden dish of ...

Words on Dreams

The bottom of his tunic was trapped against her thighs as she sank to meet him, straddling him then and there on the kitchen floor. Malcolm undid his belt and pulled himself free of the tunic, casting it aside. He had never looked or felt as fit as he was now, something he feared, as king, he would ...

Words on Dreams

Malcolm made no reply, sure that when Elyna chose to return to the cottage that he had discovered the root of her anguish. She did not want him to ride out with her father and his logical mind filled in the gaps. She was concerned for their safety. She was also possibly frustrated that she had not b...

Words on Dreams

Malcolm stood in the kitchen alone. Elyna had not even been able to meet his gaze. He went over the night, the back and forth between the party, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that had upset her. Perhaps that he hadn’t made the invite to Rhode seem more appealing. Pavoo had been adamant that...

Words on Dreams

He knew Elyna had history, having met her in the middle of its making, yet it was the first time he was forced to imagine an instance held dear to her, where he was not involved. Yvan, falling into bed, wanting more—what had that letter been? He cleaned the fresh glass of brandy in one hit, throwing...

Words on Dreams

“Godric,” Malcolm corrected. “How are the twins?” Ben asked. He was still smiling about what Elyna had said regarding Caelin. It wasn’t that she turned him on, he just hadn’t realised until that very moment at dinner, that he quite liked a woman who was able to intimidate him a little. “Well I belie...

Words on Dreams

“Oh, Elyna, that was me!” Ben admitted, “I pulled a chair over to the table and knocked the ink.” He had gathered from Malcolm’s lack of interest in the subject, and so little eye contact, that something had happened. Malcolm seemed to wake up all of the sudden, unsure about how he felt. It was not ...

Words on Dreams

“Indeed,” Benjamin agreed, casting a dark look about the dinner table. The girls giggles and teasing had not gone unnoticed by him. “Beaumont was among the first to settle Renmere. We have been knights since the Iron Hand was first formed.” “What an honour it must have been for you to grow up in suc...

Words on Dreams

“ All noble pursuits for a lady,” Malcolm jested, only to then smile. He understood what she had meant and felt heard in turn. Elyna was so very dear to him, perhaps he did not do enough to make her aware of how much she meant to him? He bowed to kiss her again, lingering in the embrace for a time b...

Words on Dreams

Elyna’s self doubt rose again. He had seen it before, sensed it in the line of questioning she chose both last night and now. He had been wrong to bring Vanessa up, a topic he would avoid in future for his wife’s peace of mind. Hearing his own words from her mouth strung, and though he did not recoi...

Words on Dreams

Elyna set aside what she was doing to return to the bedroom and with one stroke of her hand, made a king a slave to desire. It was almost embarrassing, he thought, with the ease at which she bewitched him, causing his blood to pool and his mind to snap out of whatever train of thought had taken hold...

Words on Dreams

They handed him the babe in a white knitted blanket crafted from wool so fine it looked as if a spider had spun it. The silky gossamer wrap kept the newborn from shivering, fresh from a warm bath taken only minutes after delivery. “Your son,” the nurse said. Malcolm looked down into the boy's eyes, ...

[Aramane] Darkness

Elyna had not asked as to the nature of Vanessa’s trouble that she seemed only Malcolm capable of fixing, and he did not elaborate. There was no honour in divulging a dead woman’s secrets, a secret that was just as much his own to keep, for the sake of his eldest son, Marcus, who was such in every t...

[Aramane] Darkness

“Vanessa?” He asked, sure Elyna had never met her. Perhaps in passing at one of the many balls she liked to attend, but Elyna would have been far younger then. Was it appropriate, he wondered, to bring her up on their wedding night? They were married, he reminded himself. Vanessa was dead. She offer...

[Aramane] Darkness

Malcolm knew it was impossible to feel at ease in a place so far from home, but this didn’t seem to deter Elyna’s persistence. Her kisses came as a welcome distraction and when she led him from the bath, wet and dripping, he halfheartedly ran the towel he had managed to take up over his form before ...

[Aramane] Darkness

Malcolm had not seen Edmund since Frost, nor had he forgotten the man’s words to Elyna. He made no attempts to spark conversation, but accepted the man’s congratulations with grace, knowing he owed Elyna an apology. She was not impossible to marry off or devalued in any way by her associations with ...

[Aramane] Darkness

The dunes fell in and out of the favour of moonlight as clouds moved overhead in the night sky like a thick fog. The moon would show her face for a moment before she was gone again, her sisters twinkling in the distance like giant stars on the horizon. The sea was loud as was its energy, masking a d...

[Aramane] Mine

Malcolm appeared perplexed by her confusion. Had they not been seated at the same table while her mother was accusing him of hunting her? Of fabricating everything to see that this exact end was met. He looked disheartened by her admission of worth, or lack of, and made haste to retort when Caelin s...

[Aramane] Mine

Malcolm remained quiet for a moment, his features tightening into a soft grimace. What had taken place between their afternoon together and dinner? Malcolm felt almost as if he were holding another woman. This was not the same Elyna who had kissed him in the rain. Did she believe Caelin—did she thin...

[Aramane] Mine

Malcolm suggested Godric take his carriage, if only to exercise the horses and give his footmen something to do before they turned in for the night at the accommodation owned by the crown, much closer to the centre of the city. They were slowed by a hail from Emily, but not even a kind word from Bil...

[Aramane] Mine

“Drunk,” Malcolm admitted, “which is uncommon for Owen. He told me he resorted to the lowest of insults and that his deepest regret was— I'm telling on you .” Malcolm wasn't quite able to mask his amusement at that. “Unfortunately there is not much to tell, as when he divulged that you were with chi...

[Aramane] Mine

There was so much he wanted to ask her, restrained by the tight rein of society. Even here they could not be seen so much as holding hands without rumours flying. Under the shield of rain Elyna stole a kiss and Malcolm was as captivated by her as he had been during their very first embrace. He let o...

[Aramane] Mine

It took every bit of restraint the man could muster not to reach out and place his hands on the invisible bump. Instead there came the distraction of his thumb brushed over the woman’s cheek while his free hand went to her hip. “Very much alive.” He smiled, and stepped back, grazing Elyna's side gen...

[Aramane] Mine

The day wore on like a long summer, as if time itself had slowed for the occasion. All the servants in the kitchen were dead quiet, sure they could not and should not breathe a word of what they had heard, though it seemed they were all dying to. The odd look between some of the younger maids garner...

[Aramane] Cracks

“Hunting?” Owen scoffed, an amused sound. “But I wroote to yoou,” he said. Owen suddenly understood the confusion. The Duke of Krome was reported dead… someone in Aramane must have thought it to be Malcolm of Mayce, as he was also a duke and a man of Krome. It then must have been reported inaccurate...

[Aramane] Cracks

Owen, taken aback, wasn’t quite sure he understood the sudden display of emotion. “Elyna?” He said, as he sat up, rather concerned. “Wh—whaats wrong?” Emily gave him a quick, sidelong look that seemed to warn him off inquiring further, but the subtlety was wasted on the drunk man. “Whhy are yoou sad...

Vagabonds

3 Blaze AOK21 Atler Krome was dead. Though he was known as a king, he would be buried a duke, like any other regent to the kingdom. His stay as king had only ever been in the interest of his country determining a new king while he held power. The news hadn’t sunk in all these days later. All power,...

Vagabonds

109 Bloom AOK21 On the morning the battle was due to take place, three riders approached from the east. Two of them held the kings banners while the third and central rider appeared unhindered. He climbed down from his horse after skidding to a sudden halt and plucked from his belt a sheet of rolle...

[Aramane] Cracks

Emily helped her friend make a comfortable spot for Owen on the floor, which he preferred to the idea of trying to struggle up into the chair once more. He rolled onto the covers and stretched out on his back and, feeling the rune in his hand, turned his palm up to juggle it between finger and thumb...

[Aramane] Cracks

“Oh!” Owen stumbled back a step as Elyna tried to guide him towards a chair. “Ders twoo ov yoou.” He blinked at the woman and fell back into the chair, which was when he caught sight of Emily. “Threeee. Ders three!” The man rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. “Oww did yoou do?” He smelled of s...

[Aramane] Cracks

Owen had nothing more to say to the woman. He climbed into the cab and the driver called for the women to step clear before ushering the horses forward. Owen did not look back, did not even offer the woman a second glance. For all he cared, she could do them all a favour and decide to live out the r...

[Aramane] Cracks

Owen looked as startled as his cousin to be caught up by the woman in slippers not made for running. Fredric squinted at the exchange. What was a lady of a noble house doing chasing Owen down? “I disagree,” Owen said, “any perceived friendship seems none but imagined now, in fact, I’m quite certain ...

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