A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Thirty One}

Lucile's Hugs

June 30th, 2017

Mike

"I can't stay..." She says quietly, her eyes full of sadness and hurt.

Her heart was torn between two places. The colony, and her family. But she gave them up for me, so is it selfish to not want her to go back? To forget about everything we've been through and leave it all behind? Leave our children and family we had made together, just to go back to the one that lied to her for half of her life.

"You have to stay. A King cannot rule without his Queen. A father cannot raise children without his wife. I cannot love anyone else but you" Tears slip from her eyes, and the next thing that slips is our wedding band off of her finger.

She places it in my palm and closes my fingers over it. With a bittersweet kiss I watch her run away and back into the woods.

I wake with an inhale and don't feel cold anymore. It's dark in the room except for a small lamp on in the corner and quiet minus the light breaths coming from Ashley who I was still holding in my arms.

I gaze down at her and I don't like the sight of the tear stains on her cheeks that used to look so full and pink.

They were blotchy, obvious because she had spent half the night crying in my arms.

I touch her face, feeling the texture on her cheeks, touching the strands of her hair that fall in opposite directions.

She gasps awake and for a second I feel bad for waking her, but then she sees me and the tense feeling that had transferred from her chest to mine was lost when she smiled. She yawns, melts into me and smiles up at me with her eyes and lips.

The dream had ended and it felt so good to hold my wife in my arms again. I peek down at her hand and see the small glimmer of her ring. A small reminder that she was mine, that she belonged here in the colony.

"Thought I left, huh? Or did you think I was a mirage?" I shrug a shoulder. The dream felt so real I didn't know what to expect, and she left once before, so couldn't it happen again?

"I'm just glad you're finally home" A mixture of emotions flash in her eyes, and really it looks beautiful and intriguing at the same time.

I feel lust raging through my veins, hardening my body and quickening the beat of my heart.

I run my fingers through the ends of her hair, watching as they fell eventually and down onto the mounds of her breasts hidden by her shirt.

"Can we make love now that you're back?" I ask hopefully, feeling shy and unsure of what she might say.

Her face residents and a smile comes before a light laugh.

It makes me smile to see her happy finally.

"Um, I don't think now is exactly the right time" My eyebrows raise.

"So you for sure haven't conceived kin yet?" She nods, a hint that love making was off limits for a few days.

She giggles at me.

"How about some breakfast instead?" I shrug, waiting for my arousal to leave. But it's being stubborn and doesn't want to go away.

"That's what I had in mind the first time" I reply, her face turning an even darker shade of crimson.

Giggling, she stands out of the bed and fixes her ruffled clothes. It was different seeing her in something other than a dress. Her pants were tight, revealing the curves of her hips and bottom. Her shirt was low cut, showing cleavage and the mounds of her breasts.

All of which wasn't helping the problem below my belt.

She smiles at me, her eyes seeming to dance around as she looks at me still laying on the bed.

"How about you take a cold shower and then meet me downstairs?" Before I can really give a reply she walks towards the door, smiles over her shoulder, and leaves.

My heart was full with the want to make us one again, to reunite with night after night love making, but the lust would hang like a cloud over my heart until the time came when I could do so.

I take deep breaths, focus on something else other than her in my arms, and soon the arousal is gone for now.

I get dressed in fresh clothes and make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen where my wife sits smiling and talking with Lucile who was playing with her hair.

It was a gesture Lucile did to be close to her, to know that she was really here. A bonding moment is what she usually classified it as.

They can hear my footsteps pad into the kitchen. My wife smiles, Lucile says good morning.

"Have a nice rest, your majesty?" She asks, and Ashley's eyes follow me to the stool where I sit down at.

I think back to last night, how we fought, and then how I held her in my arms and comforted us both.

It made me wonder when our next fight would be, what it would be about, and if it would be worse. How much would it hurt? Is that what would finally drive her away?

I rub the sleep out of my eyes, leaning back against the counter and stretching my legs.

"My wife is back. I can sleep easily now knowing she's safe" Lucile clicks her tongue, her cheeks turning pink and she lightly touched Ashley's cheeks from behind.

"Such a romantic. And what do you think about all this, little one?" Lucile starts, her face cheery before her eyes beginning to cloud over with worry.

"Are ye glad to be back with us all?" Ashley turns in her seat, looks between the both of us and hugs Lucile.

It makes my heart lurch forward and feel warm and heavy, makes it beat a little harder and moisten my eyes.

"I'm just glad to be home..." Lucile smiles down at her, strokes her hair and kisses her forehead.

"This will always be your home, Queen Ashley. This will always be your place"

Ashley nods, looks up at her.

"This is where I belong"

Hey everybody! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. The next chapter I'm gonna start right after this one and will most likely be published today. Just a heads up for next week, I have exams and will be studying monday-thursday, so updating will be at a minimum. Sorry for the inconvenience!- mikedirntsfrootloops :)