The Duty of a Queen Read Online Free Page B

so that we may be joined
before we reach my... our land. My father would try to stop us. If it has been
consummated before we arrive, the laws of our land will prevent him from
undoing it.”
    Her head was still spinning as she stood between her husband and her
lover, vowing before the witnesses to be faithful to these men as they were faithful
to her and to each other. She waited for someone to tell her that there had
been a mistake, that she could not have both peace for her people and keep
Jonas, but it did not happen. The captain took their hands and placed one on
top of the other. Only as he began to speak the final words of bonding did she
dare to look away from the captain. She glanced first at Oliver and found him
watching her, his eyes bright as a summer morning sky. She held his gaze for a
moment, then turned to Jonas. He, too, had his eyes on her, his face so full of
hope that Astrid's heart constricted.
    She was surprised at how natural it all seemed. Once the captain and
the witnesses departed, Astrid knew what needed to come next. Without saying a
word, she pulled her dress over her head and went to the bed. By the time she
turned to face the men again, they had shed their clothes as well. They stood
at the end of the bed, so similar and yet so different. She looked to Oliver
for the next step. She did not know who was to come to her first. He inclined
his head and she understood.
    She held out her hand to Jonas and he came to her, his body already
hard and waiting. This, she knew, was not the time for lingering touches. There
was an urgency beyond just the needs of their bodies. They would have a
lifetime together, the three of them, to learn all there was to know about each
other. At the moment, they did not have the luxury.
    Jonas sighed as he sank into her and Astrid closed her eyes, letting
her body absorb the sensation of fullness. She was wet, but there had been no
other preparation and he was so thick. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip,
muffling the moan that wanted to escape. She did not know if she could express
her pleasure at feeling Jonas inside her once more.
    “Do not hold back,” Oliver said softly.
    Astrid felt the prince's hand brush over her hair and she opened her
eyes to find him looking down at her.
    “We three are joined. There is no jealousy among us. We desire only
that which is good for the other.”
    She saw then that he was touching himself, slowly moving his hand as
he sat on the edge of the bed. Then, Jonas began to thrust inside her, and she
no longer wished to think. She had told Oliver that she trusted him. Now she
would show it. As Jonas filled her over and over again, she let herself go. She
moaned as the familiar sparks began to shoot through her body. His mouth
covered hers and she drank of him, their tongues twisting together even as
their bodies joined.
    As a pair of fingers danced across her breast, Astrid gasped,
realizing that they were not Jonas's fingers, but Oliver's. He gently pinched
her nipple and she tore her mouth from Jonas's, crying out as her release came.
The prince continued to pull on her sensitive flesh, sending shivers of pleasure
through her, and Jonas's lips trailed down her neck. As he began to suck on the
skin at the base of her throat, Astrid shuddered, a new wave washing over her.
She dug her nails into his back, the new marks joining the old.
    “Astrid.” Jonas's voice was strained.
    Oliver understood what was happening before Astrid did. “You may
finish inside her, as I will.”
    Astrid did not want Jonas to refuse, and so she bit down on his
shoulder. He shouted her name as he thrust deeply, his seed spilling into her
as she held him to her. They stayed joined for a moment as she worried the
flesh in her mouth until she knew his skin would bear the evidence of her mouth
for many days to come.
    She shivered as he withdrew from her, his softening shaft caressing
her sensitive walls. Even as he rolled off of her, she was reaching out