The King's Eye

Chapter 37

"Jacques I choose us," I heard the words bellow from me as if being yelled from a distance. "I will always choose us." The edges of the world around me blurred.

Calloused hands ran over my body, memorizing curves and claiming them. "Marry me, Sophie." He kissed me swiftly. Those hands continuing their descent, as he began to crawl down me. "Marry me and let me uphold my vows."

"I thought it was my choice," I said playfully, my fingers running through his hair.

He gave a playful smile, hands tracing along my inner thigh. "It is your choice, duchess." A moan erupted from me as his fingers made their mark, my back arching against the tree we still sat under. "But I may persuade you to choose correctly," he said between kisses at the base of my throat.

As my head fell back, I caught sight of a priest outside of the church we sat far too close to. Taking in my surroundings, I grabbed Jacques's hands away despite him resisting. "Let's get married now."

"I didn't know I was that persuasive," he said, flexing his hand in the air as if he deserved an award.

Swatting his hand away, I pointed to the priest. "Jacques, I am being serious."

Grabbing both sides of my face, he kissed me gently. Slowly."Come with me, then."

⚹⚹⚹⚹

Candlelight drowned out my senses as my eyes struggled to take in the room around me. I could remember her majesty's voice, light and airy like her demeanor, but I was in my bed. I did not remember going to bed. Sinking into my own sweat as I shifted, the pain blinded me further.

Emanating in waves of burning fire, every movement froze me to the wetness of my sheets. Droplets of moisture beaded across my arms that now seemed so foreign lying beside me, pinned down by gravity alone. Lifting up one of them, I watched the shadows of my fingers dance along the wall and as it fell back down to my side, I finally noticed the figure sitting at the edge of the bed.

Curls lay flattened on one side of his head from sleeping as he pulled off his boots. Careful not to shift the mattress, he tossed them to another corner of the room and began peeling away his shirt. My mouth tried to move, but again the pain stopped me. A muffled cry leaving me with a heavy breath.

Jacques jumped up to face me, worry washing through his expression. He looked me up and down before grabbing a wet towel and laying it across my forehead.

Slept embraced me again as I heard his voice far off in the distance. An echo cradling the pain away.

⚹⚹⚹⚹

The sun hung in the air by strings of afternoon light as I looped my arm through Jacques's. A perfect fit, that's what it felt like to be with him, and as we inched closer to the church I knew this was the right choice. I had found something rare and fragile, and I would not let it go.

My arm clung to him tighter, protectively holding the invisible tether between us.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, kissing the side of my head.

I looked up at him, forgetting our height difference. "Not at all."

His eyes searched my face longingly, a smile tugging at his lips.

⚹⚹⚹⚹

Her majesty's face hovered over mine, as she gently placed a rag across my forehead and then chest. "I think she's waking," She called frantically.