The Adored One

Yours

AN: The aftermath of the ball and the beginning of something new...
Song Recommendation: Yours by Alina Baraz

Of course the press knew who Nereyda was, who she was to T'Challa, could see the way he seemed unable to keep his eyes off of her. The day after the ball, the news was filled with both the news of the outreach center and speculation of T'Challa's relationship status. Lunch with Nereyda had to take place in the palace gardens, where he did his best to entice Nereyda into a nearby bedroom or closet. She resisted, but T'Challa didn't mind. As much as he wanted her—and he wanted her so bad he could taste her—T'Challa wanted her back next to him more. He had plans to make her his queen.

Unfortunately he hadn't accounted for rivals.

Nereyda must have made a bigger impression on M'Baku than T'Challa had been expecting. But how could she not have? She was beautiful, smart, sensual. Anyone could tell from just a look and M'Baku must have been enraptured by a dance. Even if it had been cut short by the king.

M'Baku did what he could to court her in the months after, using the same methods that T'Challa himself had used in the beginning of their relationship. He sent vegetables that could only grow in Jabari lands, expensive furs for her bed and her body, and uncut gemstones. When T'Challa arrived to her apartment to find that M'Baku had sent hand craved figurines, he felt a bit put out.

Nereyda did her best to reassure him that she wasn't entertaining M'Baku, that she'd set up a meeting with him to return the items, but T'Challa was more upset with himself. M'Baku was a consequence of his actions; had he not lost Nereyda, M'Baku would not have had the chance to try his hand. T'Challa tried not to let it affect him in the council meetings but everyone could tell he was bothered and the reasons for it.

The next week, the gifts stopped coming, or at least they did as far as T'Challa could see, and though the previous gifts stayed, he didn't mind as he snuggled up next to Nereyda wearing a fur blanket and nothing else.

He lay in bed thinking about the past year and a half and the strides they'd made in their relationship. They had taken things slowly, careful not to fall into old habits and repeat mistakes. T'Challa was adamant that it would fall into place and Nereyda would be his queen. He just had to work on her time now and be patient.

But patience had never been his strong suit. He understood they were essentially starting from scratch but Bast. They had moved at a glacial pace in the beginning. She had kept the apartment, a fact that annoyed T'Challa. He didn't just want her back in the palace, he wanted her in his bed, sharing his rooms. But again, he tempered himself and allowed her to take the lead. On the weekends, he would take a car to her apartment on the edge of the city to spend the night with her. No sex though. They would kiss, making out like teenagers and dry humping on her couch. T'Challa's head would be full of her, her taste, the softness of her skin and the breathy moans she would make. He would be hard, a king ready to soil his pants for this woman, before Nereyda would pull away.

"We should stop," she would say and he would swallow his groan of disappointment and just hold her, his dick poking her as he tried to will it away.

They lasted six months like that and when he finally could have her, T'Challa thought he would cry at how good it felt to lose himself in her again.

A hand ran through his hair. "You're thinking too loud my king."

T'Challa smiled. He grabbed at the hand and pressed a kiss to Nereyda's wrist. "I'm sorry to have woken you, my queen."

"I'm not queen." He could hear her gearing up for a fight.

It was a point of contention for them, the fact that Nereyda had no desire to be queen. The council still made jabs at her, though Ramonda had relinquished small duties to Nereyda to ease her and them into the idea. Nereyda wanted nothing to do with it the idea though. The most she would do is sit in on council meetings—in the seat reserved for the queen—and offer sound advice that made even the council tone it down. It was also T'Challa's heavy gaze on them that held their tongues.