I was going to Adora by myself to get dresses. I could not do this very often, it would seem suspicious if a princess was going too many pces by herself. It was already strange that I had gone with only Lady Ilene the st time, but in all the hubbub of the king’s illness, I hoped no-one would notice that I was going by myself.

  I had managed to ask for Sir Alvar to be my guard for this trip. He could come in with me while the others would wait outside.

  Adora greeted us cheerfully.

  “But why are you alone?” she asked. “You’ll draw attention to me if you come visit me alone.”

  She led me to sit at the couch with her, and her mousy servant girl brought us tea to drink.

  “The king has fallen ill,” I told her.

  She just nodded. She was so calm, it was clear that she knew her magic would work. She must have done something simir before.

  “Do you have his hair with you?”

  “No, not yet. I’m not close enough with him to go see him.”

  “Well you’re his son’s wife. Make yourself close enough. You need to give me the hair within three days from this morning, or the magic will start to fade and we will have to start from the beginning.”

  “Adora,” I looked at her with fervent eyes. “How does the magic work? I need to understand.”

  She led me to her back room, it was dry and dusty. She pushed aside her beautiful silk fabrics to get a painted cy statue, and a very old scroll. The statue was of a woman in a colourful costume, probably one from Adora’s homend. On her chest was a leaf sigil, like the one associated with the Mother of Medicine, but the leaf was burning.

  “You know the story of the Five Fathers and the Five Mothers I assume.”

  I nodded.

  “Tell me the names of the gods.”

  These names had been drilled into my head ever since I was a little girl in Havermark.

  “The Five Fathers are: Fact, Fury, Finding, Fruitfulness, and Fate and the Five Mothers are: Matter, Mercy, Making, Mirth, and Medicine.”

  “That it how it is now,” Adora said with a grave voice. “But it was not always this way.”

  Adora opened the scroll. It was so old I wondered if it would crumble in her hands. Inside was a painting of the gods, but again the Mother of Medicine wore this strange sigil in stead of her usual one. They were dancing in a big circle.

  “Back in the old times, before the Fathers and Mothers married, the fifth mother was not the Mother of Medicine but the Mother of Magic. More powerful by far, Magic can do everything Medicine can and more. When the Father of Fact and the Mother of Matter decided that all the gods must marry, the Mother of Magic rebelled. She wished to continue to live her life wild and free, but the others would not allow it. They drove her out and ordered all their followers to kill the people that still worshipped her. They tried to raise a mortal to have all her powers, but they failed, and the new mother is only a pale imitation of the true Mother of Magic.”

  “How did you learn this?” I asked her.

  “My family have been worshippers of the Mother of Magic since the dawn of days. My mother taught me about her and her mother before, going back as far as anyone can remember. For hundreds of years now we have hidden in secret, but once we were a family of revered temple priestesses.”

  “Are there others like you?” I asked.

  “All over the world. Usually women, but not always. We can heal like medics, but we can also do many other things like cause death from afar, or prevent unwanted pregnancies. You know, you and your guard seem very close. I can help you.”

  “Oh but other people can do that as well right? Prevent unwanted pregnancies?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Adora said puzzled. “But to my knowledge the only ones who know how to make that potion are users of magic.”

  Was Lady Agatha a magic user? She didn’t seem like it. She had always just seemed… boring. I thought about my situation, Alvar and my pn to move to the Midway Isles. I really shouldn’t get pregnant in this time. In fact I was lucky that I wasn’t pregnant already.

  “Actually, could you make a bit of that potion that prevents pregnancy?”

  “Yes I’ll do that. I’ll have Alvar bring it to you ter today. Now remember, you must remember, get the king’s hair within the next three days. After that you must get his blood within the next three days from then. You have to wait until the spell I do with the hair is working to get his blood, otherwise it will not be of any use.”

  With all this information I left the shop to return to the castle. I had to get closer to the king.

  We entered the courtyard of the castle. Through my window I saw Plinius and the scarred Titius sparring. I hoped they would not notice me, but luck was not on my side that day. Plinius gave a shit eating grin as we entered the courtyard.

  “Sister!”

  He walked up to my carriage, his little minion following in his footsteps.

  “Plinius, hello,” I forced a smile, looking out of the carriage window.

  “Why sister were you going out by yourself? Is that not unbecoming of a princess?”

  “It was only a short trip to my dressmaker,” I said through gritted teeth. “As everyone is so busy with the king’s health today I thought I would just go by myself.”

  “Ohhhh,” he tilted his head. “Oh but you didn’t go all by yourself did you?”

  He looked at Alvar with a cocky grin.

  “You went with your favourite guard. The one you like to talk about scheduling with te at night.”

  Titius snickered. The smile was frozen on my face.

  “Well anyway, I’ll see you at dinner.”

  I signalled to my driver to keep going and blessedly he did.

  Now I had to get closer to Virtus so that I could have better access to the king. I went to his library where he usually did business. I walked in and found him sitting at the desk, his head in his hand. The library was next to his room, so it had that same beautiful view of Medolina and the ocean. He had pced the desk so that he could look out of the window while he worked. He turned around and his face lit up as he saw me.

  “Talia, my darling, you’ve come to see me.”

  “Yes,” I gave a soft smile. “I thought you might need my support.”

  He stood up and I walked to him. He embraced me tightly, and kissed my forehead. I looked up at him and slowly, without fully intending to, I leaned up to kiss his lips. The kiss was warm and soft, familiar. One kiss like the hundreds we had shared on our honeymoon.From instinct I reached up into his hair, feeling the familiar tickle of the curls running between my fingers.

  He pressed his lips harder against mine, running his fingers over my ribcage. I leaned into the kiss. It felt so natural, like nothing bad had ever happened between us. My hand slid under his vest like it had so many times before, touching his warm hairy stomach.

  “Do you want to go to my room?” his voice was like velvet.

  “No,” I smiled. “Let’s stay in here.”

  “Dirty girl,” he whispered.

  I was already getting wet. He took off his overcoat and vest, standing before me in only his white shirt. I took off my jacket and shirt, but I couldn’t get to the ces of my corset. He sat down on the chair and pushed his face between my breast, kissing them. Then he lifted up my skirts, finally getting to my underpants, wide knee-long bloomers, and pulled them down. I kicked them off with my feet.

  His index finger slid between my legs, pying between my vaginal lips without pushing in. It felt frustratingly good. It felt like forever since we had st had sex, and every moment I had spent without him had made me more desperate to have him again.

  “Just do it,” I begged. “Put it in me now.”

  He pushed his two fingers in, finding the good spot inside, rubbing against it. It was good but it wasn’t enough. It felt like there was a fire between my legs and it would drive me crazy if I couldn't have it put out. I grabbed his hair with both my hands and pulled his face away from my chest.

  “No, I mean stand up and put your dick in me.”

  He just nodded silently and rose from the chair. His erection was pushing against his pants.

  He turned me around and lifted up my skirt from behind. I put my hands on his desk for stability and looked out over the beautiful city view.

  “Can they see us from down there?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

  “No, I’ve checked,” he chuckled.

  He opened the front of his pants and slid into me. I gasped, I felt like I had been starving and was finally able to eat. It was a strange state where satisfaction had begun but the desperation was still there. He started thrusting. I moaned and gripped the table in front of me.

  He grabbed my hips tightly, he was just as desperate for this as I was. I forgot everything. All our struggles, all our fights, all my sorrow. It was all gone, except for the feeling between my legs as my husband took me.

  “Turn around, I want to look at you,” he growled.

  I turned my head around to look at him, hair falling in his eyes, his shirt open at his chest revealing his bck chest hair. He pulled out and chuckled. Then he pushed the things off his big oak desk. Papers went flying and an ink pot dropped on the carpet, spilling the precious liquid.

  He turned me around with his warm, rough hands and had me lie on my back on the table. He pulled my hips off the edge and held me tight as he entered me again. It felt just as good the second time.

  Thrusting again, he leaned over with one hand and pulled my breasts up in the corset, he did it so that the nipples reached over the top, stroking each nipple as he freed it. Then he moved his hands back on my hip to move faster and with more control.

  With each movement my nipples grazed against the fabric of my corset. Each touch made me them more sensitive and turned me on even more.

  I looked up at Virtus, his dark hair falling into his eyes, a drop of sweat running down his cheek. He looked so good. He thrust again, again, again. I came suddenly, my whole body shaking with hot tremors as he pumped into me. A scream escaped my lips. Virtus chuckled but soon he was coming as well.

  My rapture was fading into a comfortable pleasure as he shot inside me. Then we were just still for a few moments.

  “That was amazing,” he panted.

  “Yes.”

  He pulled out, and handed me a handkerchief to put between my legs.

  “So you finally forgive me now?”

  “Yes,” I lied as I sat up and started to dry myself.

  “You don’t, do you?” he sighed.

  “I’ll try.”

  That was a lie as well but perhaps a more believable one.

  He helped me get dressed and then we just hugged each other for a while.

  I didn’t dare ask him to see his father yet, as I thought it would be too suspicious.

  ***

  Author's note: Hi guys! I'm really enjoying writing this story and I'm really happy to see that people are reading it. Of course I'm happy to get any readers, also the ones that don't like or comment. But if you get this far I'd love it if you would give the story alike or comment since it really makes me so excited to see them <3