Royal Rock:A Bad Boy Royal Romance(23)

"Up ahead is a little river," I said. "I call it the bendy."

"Bendy? Why?"

"It has a bend," I said, grinning.







She laughed again. "Creative."

"I was very young when I named it."

"What's the real name?"

"Oh, who knows? Some historical figure or some obscure lord or some shit like that. Starkland has a million of those."

She smiled, and the light streamed through her hair. I felt something inside me, very briefly, something I thought I had lost.

"Listen," she started, "about yesterday."

"That was my mistake," I said quickly. "That was my pride talking."

"I was going to apologize," she said softly.

"You don't need to," I answered. "You really don't. You want your  parents here? Fine; they'll be here by dinnertime. I'll have it done."

"Thank you, Trip," she said.

"Come on, let's forget that." We crested the little hill and began to head down toward the trees and the stream.

Bryce laughed when the stream was in sight. "Hardly a river," she said. "Where's the bend?"

"Farther that way," I said, pointing upstream. "First, let me take care  of this parents thing. Then I want to show you something else."

I gestured and Al came trotting up. I told him in Starklandian to get  Bryce's parents and to make sure they arrived at the estate by dinner.  He bowed and said it would be done.

Bryce shook her head. "Trying to hide something?" she asked.

I grinned. "My English isn't so good."

"Liar. What'd you say?"

"Just had him get your parents. Like I said, they'll be here by dinner."

She smiled at me and shook her head.

"Come on," I said, and started walking.

We headed downstream for a few minutes, talking idly about nothing. I  hadn't completely forgotten our stupid fight, but I felt better. I'd  taken responsibility and hadn't let her try to apologize. We both knew  that would be bullshit. She wasn't in the wrong, and I wasn't about to  force her to say something she didn't mean.

I was going to get her parents. I may have been a bad boy and an asshole, but I did what I said I would do.

Ahead, there was a small grouping of trees. It looked almost fake and  came out of nowhere, appearing at the base of another rise with the  stream passing right through it.

"Just ahead," I said.

"What is that?"

"That's something special. Come on."

We headed over toward the trees. They were densely packed and thin with  white, flakey bark. The branches were mainly at the top, so the small  grouping of trees looked almost like a bunch of birthday candles  sticking up from the ground.

"Aspen trees," I said. "Very, very old Aspen trees. They're not supposed to grow here, but they do."

"Wow," she said. "It's really beautiful." We stepped into the small  forest, but the underbrush was loose and spread out. It was easy to hike  through it as we made our way toward the stream.

"They were planted for religious reasons," I said, "but nobody really  knows what or why anymore. These were planted way before Starkland was a  thing, probably before kings were even a thing."

It was quiet and gorgeous. I could remember sneaking down here so many  times as a child, though in retrospect I hadn't been sneaking at all.  I'd probably had ten guards posted all around me, keeping out of sight  so I could feel independent. For all the shit, I'd had a decent enough  childhood.

I pointed up ahead. Bryce followed my gaze and laughed at what she saw.

Attached to one of the trees was a crude rope swing.

"The royal swing?" she asked.

"You got it," I said.

"And is that ancient?"

"If you think twenty years is ancient, then yeah, sure."

She laughed and then followed me as I walked up to the swing. I gave it a  little push, but it looked old and liable to fall at any moment. I  wasn't going to risk her gorgeous ass on it.

"I'd suggest you get on there, but I don't want to see you break your tailbone," I said.

"You can get on, though. I wouldn't mind."

I smirked at her. "Still angry?"

"No," she said. "You're just still an asshole."

I laughed and idly pushed the swing. "I used to come here with my  brother all the time. We weren't the closest brothers. I lived in his  shadow much of the time. He was the eldest, so he got all of the  important responsibilities."

"That must have been hard."

"Not really," I said, grinning. "It's better not to have responsibility. It meant I got to do as I pleased."







She nodded, looking around. "I read about that. You pleased a lot of people."

I barked a short laugh, grinning at her. I liked that she'd done some  research on me. I shouldn't have been surprised, but she was so good at  pretending like she didn't give a shit. It was nice to get a glimpse  past that for a second. "I did. I sowed my royal seed," I said.

"Gross." She laughed and shook her head.

"You didn't seem to mind the other night."

"I was out of my mind."

"Out of it with what?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"I know," I said, stepping toward her. "You were out of your mind  thinking about what I'd do to you. And now that you know, I'm guessing  you can't stop thinking about it."

My heart was beating hard in my chest. I kept thinking of that night,  too. I kept thinking about her lips around my cock, her soaking pussy  against my fingers, her moans and the way she came, so damn hard. I  loved her taste and the way she said my name, and most of all, I loved  the way she called me her king.

I knew I'd get her saying it as soon as I got inside her panties. All she had to do was give in to what she wanted.

I smirked at her, stepping closer. My heart started to beat harder in my chest.

"Where is your security detail?" she asked me.

I gestured. "Nearby, but I can get rid of them."

"No," she said quickly. "That's okay. I was just asking."

"Why? Are you afraid?"

"Would you blame me?"

"I suppose not," I said, closing the gap between us. My lips were inches  away from her cheek, and she didn't move an inch. "I'd be afraid if I  were you, but I'd also remember who saved me."

"You did," she said simply.

"Yes, I did."

"But to be fair, you were also the reason I was in danger at all."

"Yes. That's also true." I shrugged, taking her chin in my hands. I  wanted to have her right there in the forest. I wanted all the old gods  to watch. "That's the danger of being with a man like me, Bryce, but I  promise you'll never be truly harmed, not if I can help it."

"Maybe I don't want a man like you," she said, but I knew she was lying.

"If that's true, then I'll let you go," I murmured. "But we both know it isn't."

So I kissed her. I couldn't waste another second, couldn't stand it  another moment. I kissed her hard, my lips pressing roughly against  hers. We embraced like that, our arms wrapped around each other. I loved  her taste and the way she kissed me back, starving and intense.

As my hands twisted into her hair, I heard something. We broke off slowly and I realized that it was Al speaking Starklandian.

I gently released her. "Your Highness, the parents are on their way. However, there has been an emergency."

I grunted. "Another?" We spoke in Starklandian.

"Yes, sir. It's important."

"Very well. It never ends, does it?"

"No, sir. We'll take you back."

"Good." He melted away, giving us some space.

"Sorry," I said, turning to Bryce and switching back to English. "There was another emergency."

"Bad?" she asked.

"Honestly, probably not. There seems to be an emergency every few minutes these days."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I kissed her softly on the lips again. I needed just one more taste. "We need to go, though."

"Okay."

She followed me back out of the copse of trees. I didn't want to leave  them. There was a special feeling in there, like I was surrounded by  history, by the history of my family and of my people. More importantly,  I wanted to press Bryce up against one of those ancient, magic trees  and fuck her rough and deep until she screamed my name and came hard as  fuck. I wanted her dripping wet and begging by the time I was finished  with her perfect, tight little pussy.

She was the first woman I'd ever brought to that spot. Very few people  went there outside my family. For some reason, that felt right. I  wouldn't have had it any other way.





23





BRYCE





I kept thinking about that kiss in the forest as I waited for my father  and Lucy to arrive. Less than a day had passed, and they were already  heading down to the estate in a guarded caravan.

History and power and sex and politics. That was what I got myself  wrapped up in when I got involved with Trip. His family was ancient, as  was his world. I was just an American girl, a regular person, and yet  somehow I was thrust deep into it all.