I could never understand why Griffin was popular among the Princess’s inner circle. I stood guard with my back to the door, watching as the man was drooled over by women with bloodlines stated to be the purest in the Kingdom. I swallowed a laugh, remembering how Elena described them. The town whores would glow brighter than a lantern if they’d heard the vulgarities she’d conjured up to describe the so called ladies.

Griffin flaunted his helmet, holding up the hawk shaped monstrosity for his admirers. They ohh-ed and ahh-ed over the gold trim and the subtle gleam of crusted jewels.

“This was crafted by the Royal smith himself, made from the hide of a youngling dragon,” he ran his finger over the scales, smirking with satisfaction, “Strong enough that an arrow would splinter if I met it head on. And on the Queen’s insistence, I had it decorated with gems handpicked from the Kingdom’s vault.” He boasted, grinning widely as he traced the sharp hook of the hawk’s beak. A sigh rippled through his admirers, and it was through sheer force of will my eyes didn’t roll into my skull.

A large-breasted woman pressed herself against Griffin’s arm, a hint of a tongue darting across her lips as she wetted them. Countess Reila was a nubile thing, blessed with the body of a siren. Her fortunes were gifted upon her by her numerous, wealthy suitors, and she’d gained infamy for bedding all of them, man or woman.

“How wonderful, Sir Griffin,” she purred, “I’d like to see any more wonderful treasures in your care, if you’d allow for it.” I didn’t miss the way her eyes darted to the area below his belt. From the ecstatic gleam in Griffin’s eyes and the upward tilt of his full lips, he’d probably seen it too.

Unfortunately, the Countess was immediately elbowed out of the way by the rest of the disgruntled females.

“We’d love to see it, too!” The gaggle of green-faced women chorused. I watched his face fall and snickered. Foiled by his own admirers. He’d bed them all if he were able, but after a clergyman discovered his tryst with a particularly amorous chambermaid, he’d been warned to keep his activities to a minimum if he wanted to keep his position in the Order.

The rest of us lowly Knights had a hearty laugh at that piece of news. All of us were bitter Griffin reaped the rewards for what was actually a joint effort, we were given nothing but a bed to lie in and a handful of gold coins compared to the mountain of gifts and betrothal offers he’d gotten. It was unfortunate, but our complaints remained unvoiced, save for drunken yelling we did at our personal gatherings. He’d clawed too far up for any of us to do anything about it.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself immensely, Sir Hyde.”

I blinked in surprise. Princess Elena stood before me, garbed in the finest dress out of all the women here. The sunlight filtering through the glass-stained windows hit her profile at just the right angle, giving her petit form an ethereal glow. The gentle smile she usually wore was replaced by one more teasing, and I felt my own lips stretching to mirror hers.

“I certainly am. Seeing Sir Griffin bask in the attention of beautiful ladies does make me slightly upset, however,” I said.

“My brother said the same. It seems to be a general consensus among the men in the castle.” The mischievous gleam in her emerald eyes gave me pause. “A count recently proposed to a woman who was an ardent admirer of Sir Griffin. He was thoroughly rejected when the Knight himself walked into the room, and walked out of it with that woman by his side.”

She giggled at my slack jawed expression. “That…that’s the first I’ve heard of it.” I replied, turning to eye Griffin. Nobles were not the sort to take insults without retaliating. The Order receives numerous threats from a variety of people for Griffin’s escapades, from disgruntled lovers to husbands or brothers. Ordinary folk were harmless, but angry Nobles were trickier to deal with.

“Don’t fret,” The Princess suddenly said, patting my shoulder. “I was merely joking.”

I felt a rush of relief at her statement. “You shaved a year off my already short life.”

“Ah, my apologies,” She said, looking not apologetic in the least. “I’ll see if the garden of words has any methods to help revitalize you.”

My body went stiff. I swept my gaze across the room to see if anyone heard our conversation; but there had been none. Her fingers ghosted over the metal plate covering my chest, dancing idly over the studded crest. The dull gleam of steel was muffled by the delicate pink of her digits. I took in a shuddering breath.

Elena smiled.

---

She gasped as I ran my tongue over the tender flesh of her neck. She tasted of berries. My hand crept under her evening dress, wandering over her supple bottom. I teased the band of skin around her underwear and dipped my finger down to brush against her already wet folds.

“You gave me start earlier today,” my words were muffled as I descended onto her uncovered breasts, “If anyone had heard you…” I gently took a dusky nipple between my teeth, flicking it with my tongue. I licked the rough, unblemished skin, enjoying the increasingly dirty noises she made.

“I–” she gasped again. I’d added another finger to my exploration. “I couldn’t very well hand you a note, could I?”

I let go of her nipple with a wet ‘pop’ and retrieved my fingers. I held her gaze as I ran my tongue over them, she grew increasingly dazed each time my tongue lapped the valley between my fingers. “True.”

“I’m glad we decided on several secret words before you left,” she said, reaching out to undo the needlessly complicated mechanisms of my armour. She made an exasperated sound as she tugged uselessly against them. “You should have dressed light before coming here.”

“I couldn’t possibly. What kind of Knight would I be if I walked around without this?” I gestured at myself, smiling when she rolled her eyes.

“A naked one,” she replied.

I chuckled and deftly stripped myself down. It was a habit borne of practice. We had few opportunities for baths while we were on expeditions, and even then, we needed to be quick to prevent enemies from taking advantage of our nakedness. I set down the last of my armour and was immediately cornered against the shelf. The throbbing cock between my thighs grew harder under Elena’s hungry gaze.

I sucked in a breath when she got on her knees, fondling the base with teasing fingers. She stroked my length almost curiously, and wet her lips. I ran my hand through her head of golden hair, my breaths beginning to grow heavy as she teased me. Finally, she leant forward and swallowed my cock.

My grip on the shelf kept me from jerking my hips upward. Her head bobbed up and down, her hand pumping me in sync to her movements. She sucked my rod tirelessly, teeth scraping the sensitive flesh and sending waves of pleasure through me, her wicked tongue swirling around the tip and lapping up small spurts of pre. I was dizzy with excitement and barely heard anything save for the sounds of her sucking.

I looked down through half-lidded eyes. She met my gaze, molten emerald standing out starkly against the dull brown palette of the archive room. She squeezed my balls, her cheeks hallowing as she gave one last suck. I came in her mouth with a shuddering gasp, bucking my hips to feel her swallow every last bit of cum.

Elena licked her lips. “A fine stead,” she purred. She stood, taking my hand and guiding it to the place between her legs. It was practically dripping, and I ached to get down to press my mouth against her quivering sex.

“I couldn’t get my mind off the last time we lay together. Do you know I indecent I felt after you left? Lying in bed with only my fingers to pleasure me,” her words faltered when my finger slid into her. When she moaned, I added another, moving them in tight circles. I stroked harder, my other hand reaching out to steady her when she wobbled on her feet.

“It must have been hard,” I said, thrusting my fingers deeper into her and watching her face contort with pleasure. She only remained standing with my help and through sheer force of will. Her juices trickled down my arm, dripping onto the carpet and leaving a dark stain. “What would you like me to do, now that I’m here?” A shiver ran through her as she rode my fingers till she came, soft mewls of delight filling the quiet room.

“L-Lie down.” Elena instructed after she caught her breath.

I did as she asked, my member pointing skyward when I lay flat on my back. She planted her feet on either side of me. “Don’t turn the other way. I want to see your face.”

She laughed throatily. “As you wish,” she said, her words dissolving into a hiss as she speared herself on my cock. I grabbed her thighs as she stirred herself on my pulsing member, her manicured nails digging into my legs. Her insides were deliciously tight, walls clamping down on me as she acclimated to my size. It had been a long time since we fucked, I was sure I wore the same, reverent expression currently on her face.

“As a reward for coming back alive,” she drawled, “leave the work to me.” She started moving. Her insides clenched around me with each rise and fall, my cock hitting her innermost walls. Elena moaned as she bucked on top of me like her life depended on it, and I found myself reaching up to grab her breasts. They were not overly large nor too small. I squeezed them earnestly, enraptured by how they swung in rhythm to her movement.

“Ah, oh god, you feel so good,” she moaned, the wet smack of her bottom hitting my pelvis adding to my building climax. “How does my cunt feel? I’ve not had a man but you. How do you feel, knowing that – ah! – this cunt has only ever been pleasured by your cock?”

I grunted as her walls tightened around me. My fingers dug into the meat of her thigh, and I thrust my hips upward to meet her. It had the desired reaction, and she let out a shriek of pleasure as I met her movement with another hard thrust.

“I’m honoured.” I breathed, “You’re amazing, Elena,” I continued plundering her insides, finally giving into my urge to push her onto the floor. She fell back with a squeak, golden hair splayed around her. Her surprise melted into pleasure as I continued fucking her, and then I kissed her, my hips never stopping even as I explored the hot cavern of her mouth.

I was close, now. With my final thrust, I angled my cock to hit the spot I knew she loved. She broke the kiss as her back arched, her breasts pillowing my face as she writhed against me. I let out a pitched whine and released my seed into her. I collapsed on top of her body, our skin slick with sweat, and pressed a kiss against her collarbone.

“Did you miss me that much?” I asked, not really believing her.

A shaky hand reached up to brush back the hair which had fallen over my eyes. “Always,” her voice was soft, “Never doubt that. Did you miss me, too?”

“I’d be lying if I said otherwise,” I pushed myself off and lay my spent body beside her. The once musty air of the archive was filled with the heady scent of sex, I wrinkled my nose at the strange smell produced by both scents mingling together. “Berk had to hit me to get my attention on some days.” I admitted with a wry grin.

Elena laughed, slowly getting up. She looked at the carnage around us and winced, eyebrows slanting when she saw the stain on the carpet. She shot me an accusing look.

“You can’t pin all of the blame on me.” I said, pretending to look affronted.

“We’ll need to clean this up before leaving.” She bemoaned, cradling her head in her hands. “Rowena already has her suspicions about us. If she uses her tracking magic, it’ll be impossible to deny our relationship.” Her words faltered towards the end.

Our relationship. The dark thoughts I’d been harbouring while I was away returned with vengeance. It was easy to forget when I was with her, but the fact remained that she was of noble birth. I was the son of a mercenary who’d gotten lucky during a particularly bad year where bandits roamed the Kingdom and threatened to overturn the peaceful ways of the people.

Elena was the second daughter to the King. Under normal circumstances, we’d have never met, let alone rutted like dogs. But things had happened, and we came together. Still, we both implicitly knew the ending that awaited us. If anyone caught wind of this, the repercussions would be staggering to even think about.

To describe what we have as a relationship was laughable. Princesses did not consort with anyone lesser, and we didn’t dare meet while the sun hung from the sky. I was intimately familiar with her body, but not anything else.

“Come on,” I said, gently nudging her, “Let’s start before someone comes looking.”

“Oh. Yes. Of course.” Elena hesitated. Her fingers grasped my chin. She pulled me down and kissed me. It was slow and sweet. She stepped back almost shyly, ducking her head at my surprised stare. “I hope this meeting will last you until our next.”

But I suppose there was no use in denying it. I was utterly enamoured by this woman.