A Crowned King (Complete)

23

Mako sat cross-legged as he stared into the fire, thinking about the state of things. His father had been assassinated, and after learning of a map that the killer possessed had been written by the Lord Steward of Snowcore, he'd made the decision to go himself. He could've sent anyone and they could have assessed the dangers. However he hadn't done that. He hadn't wanted to. He'd wanted to avenge his father's death himself; to make himself feel better about his father's death. Now here he was in a cabin in the middle of a blizard with the Princess and Heir to the throne of the Galtea Nation. Not only that but he'd just recently come to the conclusion that he was in love with her as well. Like that didn't complicate things a great deal more.

The Prince knew that he was running out of time between now and the coronation, but he didn't truly care. All he wanted was for those who had wronged and killed his father to be found and punished. If that meant he had to give up his throne, he would happily do so. His brother Drakani would make a much finer King than he anyway. He wanted what was right for his Nation, come what may.

The blizzard had been raging now for the better part of two days, its snows falling long and thick, burying everything in white. It showed no aigns of stopping and Winter had said the storms could last weeks. He didn't have weeks, but he had no choice but to wait it out. There was no arguing with the Gods.

Hopefully the storm would break soon and they could continue on to Star. Perhaps then he could get his answers from this Kane Hawk. Maybe he would be able to explain why a map he'd drawn had been found on an assassin who had killed his father Dryn. Maybe he was the mastermind behind Dryn's death in the first place.

If that was revealed and with his company's help perhaps they could convince King Dante to allow them to take him in for justice. He figured that was too much to ask for, but he could pray. Besides, a man tended to listen to his daughter and Winter seemed very convincing if she wanted to be. She'd sure convinced him to take her on as his guide after all despite the discreet nature of his mission.

"What are you thinking about?" asked the soft voice of Winter from behins him. He could hear the concern in her voice, but he didn't turn to reassure her that he was okay because he wasn't. All he could think of was his father and getting his justice. Everything else was secondary. Even her and how he felt about her. It had to be. Otherwise it would distract him and turn him away from his true purpose in Galtea. Besides, it wasn't like they could have a true relationship.

Galtea and Star had been enemies for a long time, since the dissolving of the first -- and only -- Human empire thousands of years ago. The Empire had consisted of Star, Galtea, Manathera, Andaria, and the Coin Islands. The Empire would have grown larger to, but the population had grown too large among the Empire and those in power were prideful. Instead of working together they had begun to work against one another and soon civil war ensued. Star had attempted to keep the Empire together, fighting tooth and nail, but in the end they failed. Each province broke away, becoming their own Nation. Since then, the Human Nations would never again unite.

"I'm thinking about my father. They killed him and I still don't know for what. They didn't want him around for some reason." Mako said, staring into his lap. "I have to know why. My father was no tyrant. Dryn Starcrown was a good, kind man and they slaughtered him anyway. The bastards will pay for it. I'll make anyone involved reap what they sewed."

There was a moment of silence. It lasted so long he figures she wasn't going to speak. So when she finally did he listened closely and was surprised by what he heard. "I may know the reason why they killed your father. It's because your father and mine were working on an alliance between our two Nations." she told him. He looked up at her, surprised. She just shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? I eavesdrop. I like to know what's going on." She paused before she spoke again. "My father knew the truth of it: Galtea can't survive the way we are now. Our name stinks in the nostrils of other Nations because of our raiding. While we can deny the raiding being a royally sanctioned attack on other Nations and be honest, that won't continue to hold. Some King somewhere will tire of it and they will attack. We have a large population, but we don't have the best quality of weapons and are tactics are shitty. If we faced a real enemy, we would lose. There's no doubt about that."

"But what does Star have to do with that?" Mako asked, not understanding her logic and what they got out of such an alliance.

"Haven't you ever wonderwd why more raiding parties hit Star every year than all others combined? It's not because your borders are weak. Gods knows its damned hard to get passed Three Towers, but its worth the risk for desperate men." Winter told him as she scooted closer to him. She sat next to him, staring into the fire. "Star has the two things that we need in abundance: crops and livestock. Star could feed the other hungry Human Nations and never feel it in their own stomachs." She sighed and shook her head. "Past Kings didn't care about that, but your father was different from what my father said. He was willing to trade with us, to help us. That's why they killed him, Mako. I'm sure of it."

Having this revealed to him the Prince couldn't deny his rage and his questions were even larger now. Who would want to stop such a thing from happening? Why halt an alliance that would benefit both Nations? The raidings would stop in Star and Galtea would have food. It sounded to him that this whole thing went a lot deeper than what he'd first thought. He never would've beleived it coming from someone else's mouth, but he trusted Winter and knew that she had no reason to lie to him.

"We're going to find out who did this. We're going to find out who killed my father and I promise you that when I ascend the throne, I will renew our alliance with Galtea." Mako told her in a firm, passionate voice. He placed a hand on top of her's, squeezing it gently. "I will speak with your father and put an end to all this between our two Nations. But I can't do that until I've had justice for my father."

The Ranger smiled at him and nodded. "I understand." she said gently and placed her hand on top of his. "If it was my father, I would do the same. I wouldn't let anything or anyone stop me from getting to the one's who killed him."

In that moment the Prince felt more than what he could ever remember feeling before. He felt a rush in his heart at her touch and the same organ soared, pounding faster and faster with her proximity to him. He smiled at her, his eyes dropping to her lush, full lips, and even though he knew he shouldn't, he could resist no longer. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss.

She gasped into the kiss, taken by surprise. Then, she threw herself into it with equal fervor to his own. He was greatly surprised by her willingness, but he certainly didn't stop. Instead, he leaned forward, deepening the kiss, his tongue sliding into her mouth. She moaned, a good sound that sent shivers down his spine and had him clutching at her hips, pulling her curved body in closer to his own.

Once again it cleared his mind that he shouldn't be doing this, but he couldn't stop himself either. His blood was on fire and his cock was stiff as steel in his pants. Moaning into her mouth, he bit down on her bottom lip as he slid his hands around her hips until they found her ass and he squeezed two handfuls of the lovely flesh, pulling her flush against him.

"By Goran." Winter moaned out as they broke from the kiss. Mako still didn't pause. Instead, his mouth attacked the column of her throat, biting, chewing, and licking on the flesh there all the way from the shell of her ear down to her clavicle. The sounds she was making from his ministrations were driving him crazy into a fevered lust that he couldn't control. He knew what was happening, but his mind was gone and his hands had taken control of his actions. He was acting on pure instinct with no rational thought behind it.

He grabbed hold of her leather armor then, unbuckling and unwrapping it quickly. He dropped the armor to the floor with a heavy thunk before grabbing hold of her tunic and pulling it up over her head. He moaned at the sight of her breasts, large and pale and topped with bright pink nipples. He cupped her breasts in his large hands, squeezing and kneading the flesh there. She moaned as she threw her head back and arched her back into his touch. He smiled that he was the one giving her that pleasure.

The two stared into each others eyes, green meeting gold. Then, they leaned in and kissed again, their passions overtaking them in only moments.