Two Princes

Chapter 1

The Queen of Carthenia lounged in her bed and gazed at the man spread out next to her. He was sprawled on his front, as naked as the day, the bright afternoon sunlight slanting across his magnificently muscular backside. Now he was fast approaching fifty, he had thickened a little around the waist but he was still a magnificent specimen of manhood. Still her handsome Palace Guard even after all these years.

He opened his eyes and looked straight at her. They were still the deepest brown and his eyelashes were still long and dark and he still made her catch her breath sometimes.

"Is your Royal Highness quite satisfied now?" he asked slowly, a lazy smile teasing the corners of his full lips.

Elena reached out and tenderly stroked his bristly jaw. "Oh yes," she sighed, "But you are a very bad Prince Consort, tempting his Queen to neglect her royal duties.

"I am not neglecting my duties," he smirked.

"Oh? So lounging around in bed half the day is acceptable behavior for the husband of the reigning monarch?"

"Yes, " he said, turning over and sitting up to gaze down at her, "because my duties are to keep the reigning monarch happy and if fucking her all afternoon until she screams out my name is what she wants, then that is what she gets."

"You are wicked," she purred and pulled him down for a deep wet kiss.

"And you like me wicked," he growled, his hand straying to her breast and his fingers pinching a nipple.

He felt her tremble under him but she pulled away. "No darling. We must get dressed. We have a supper to attend."

He groaned and threw himself back onto the bed. "Not the Privy bloody Council yabbering on about that bloody wedding again!"

"It is our son's wedding and it is the most important event we have held for years. It is the most important event in my life in fact, second to giving birth to my wonderful sons of course."

"And what about your wedding to me?"

"That was THE most important event in my life, of course, but unfortunately that was rather a long time ago and now we are aging parents with greying hair and this is the time for our son to take centre stage."

"'Tis a pity your son doesn't seem to want to take centre stage."

"Nikolai? Of course he does. He was born to be the centre of attention."

"My darling, you have always been rather blind to the sweet Niko's flaws."

"Remind me again. What are his flaws? Good looks? Charm? Intelligence? A wonderful sense of humour?"

"Elena," he said patiently propping his head on one hand and regarding her with his calm brown gaze. "Nikolai is irresponsible and feckless and a little too fond of his own charms."

Elena sat up angrily and pulled at the bed sheet to cover her nakedness. "I know what you're thinking but you don't dare say it!"

"What?" he asked in his irritatingly level voice.

"He is just like his father."

The Prince Consort didn't react. He merely kept on gazing at her as she tugged at her dress, which had somehow ended up on the floor, skewered by a chair leg.

"He is not like his father," she said. "He is kind and gentle and really very sensitive."

Her husband sighed. "I know, but I am worried about him. I just don't think he is ready to marry."

"He is twenty two years old. I have waited for too long. Helene has been waiting for most of her life. He's ready."

"Darling," the Prince Consort said very carefully. "The way you're marrying him off... doesn't it remind you of...?"

"Don't you dare!" she cried. "I was married off to someone I had never even met before, a complete stranger. Niko has known Helene all his life. She's sweet and bright and she'll be so good for him."

"If you say so," he said, resigned. "But I wonder whether Niko agrees with you."

"Nikolai would tell me if he was unhappy," she said with conviction. "He tells me everything. I'm his mother."

"And the implication there is that I am not his father?"

"Don't be paranoid," she said dismissively as she struggled into her dress. "Where's that bloody maid in waiting when I need her?"

"You dismissed her when I told you to suck my cock."

She pulled her bodice up to cover her breasts and gave her husband a hard look. "There's no need to be so vulgar. And get off Nikolai's back and leave him be. You've never liked him have you?"

"I love Nikolai, you know I do."

"But not as much as you love Gabriel."

The Prince Consort gave a long-suffering sigh. "Don't start this again. I love them both but they are very different boys and need very different handling. Gabriel is not a problem. He never has been."

"And Nikolai is?"

"Nikolai is your heir, my darling. Some day he will be ruler of this kingdom. We have to watch and nurture him very carefully or he may make a complete hash of it."

Elena's face was still set in a scowl, but she had at least stopped struggling at her dress and was listening to her eminently sensible husband.

"It doesn't help that we have lied to him all his life," he said quietly.

She stepped towards the bed and sitting down rested her hand gently on top of his and they both sat in silence for a moment, mulling over the difficult choices they had had to make.