May Death Do Us Part

181 Chapter 181 : The sleeping swan

“Are you tired?” Elric asked the beautiful red head sitting across from him.

“No your majesty, I’m alright,” Melissa responded.

“Are you cold?”

“No your majesty, thank you for your concern.”

The lycan smiled sheepishly and made his way to Melissa’s side. “You know I can tell you’re lying.” He spoke sheepishly as he put an arm over her and pulled her to him. “You look exhausted and your skin is cold to the touch.”

Melissa tesnsed up for a while but when the man’s warmth enveloped her she relaxed a little. Curse her nosferatu cold blood and his lycan warmth.

“So what would like us to get up to first when we arrive my queen?” Elric rasped in a deep tone as he gently rubbed her shoulders.

Melissa was very uncomfortable, under normal circumstances she wouldn’t be this worked up but because she knew there was something awaiting her in Guria, she couldn’t keep her heart at ease.

“We will be tired from the journey your majesty,” Melissa responded trying very hard to keep her tone as calm as possible. “Maybe we should consider resting.”

.....

Elric cupped her cheek and turned Melissa’s face towards his, “I told you to call me by name when we’re alone,” his lips brushed against hers lightly before he pulled back and stared into her sapphire blue eyes.

“We should rest when we arrive Elric,” Melissa muttered in a low tone.

“Anything for my wife,” Elric mumbled before crushing his lips onto hers. Melissa had to fight the urge to scream and push him away in fear of how he would react to denial. She had seen the angry, jealous side of Elric and she didn’t want to awaken it again.

When Elric pulled away Melissa was relieved, gods it felt so wrong to have his lips against hers, how was she going to survive all these days of being alone with this man.

*

In the Merian state of Guria, Astrid, Bahram’s wife was standing in ‘the sleeping swan’ inn, the best inn reserved for only visiting royals in Guria. She had her arms crossed over her chest as the inn keeper read through some documentation that was instructing him to employ Cassandra for a period of one week and be the personal room attendant to the king.

The man looked up at Astrid Morrell when he was done reading the documents and gave her wary eye. “Well it seems that all the documentation is authentic my lady,” the man spoke, “but this simply cannot be done. I can employ the young lady yes,” the man explained and pointed at Cassandra with his quil, “but having her serve the king and queen is a whole different case entirely.”

The innkeeper pulled out a small book that had different name of various maids and butlers that were employed at the sleeping swan. And at the top of that list were six names written in bold.

“Those three men and three woman have been specifically trained to serve the king and/or queen if ever we have them visiting our fine establishment.” The man explained, “this is the first time the new king is coming here and I don’t think I can allow an inexperienced maid to serve his majesty, it would taint the name of my inn.”

Astrid slammed the book back on the table and glared at the man, for a woman who was due to give birth in a week or two she sure had a lot of fire in her. “Cassandra was requested by her highness queen Melissa herself.” Bahram’s wife pulled out the letter her husband had written her, folded it slightly to conceal his lewd introduction, and showed it to the innkeeper. “And her request was officiated by the lord of this land, my husband lord Bahram Morrell. Are you saying that you refuse to follow these orders?”

“Of course not,” the innkeeper defended himself, “I would never be so presumptuous my lady. But if anything goes wrong during their honeymoon it will be my head.”

“Alright fine,” Astrid responded as she folded up the letter and shoved it back in her pocket, “I’ll make sure to inform my husband that you think her highness’ choice in who to serve her isn’t befitting of your standards.” The woman sway her hair and turned towards the exit, “let us see if you’ll be able to keep your head on your shoulders after that.”

As Astrid strode towards the door the innkeeper stood up abruptly and called to her. “My lady please wait!”

Astrid craned her neck to the side and arched her brow at the man.

“If the order is from her highness, I suppose we can make an exception this time.”

Astrid turned around and smiled slyly at the innkeeper, “you’re a wise man my good sir.” As she walked out the door she called out to him, “I will have Cassandra report here immediately. His majesty and his wife should be here any time from now.”

*

Melissa and Elric arrived in Guria later that evening. They disembarked their carriage and were greeted by all the maids and butlers of the sleeping swan who were standing in two lines leading to the door.

The silver haired king took his wife’s hand and led her towards the beautiful inn. Even though Melissa was not looking forward to the honeymoon, she couldn’t help but admire the charming design of the place.

The inn was adorned with white marble floors, and coral colored walls that gave the place a clean and warm feel. The ceiling displayed glass chandeliers that rustled calmly when the breeze from the door swayed them gently from side to side. If she wasn’t with Elric, Melissa would have actually enjoyed her stay here.

A tall man in a long black jacket, white shirt and a straight black pair of pants walked elegantly towards the couple. He had a curled mustache, long white hair tied on a sleeked neat ponytail, and was wearing a monocle.

“Welcome to the sleeping swan your majesty, your highness,” the man spoke with a bow, “I hope your stay here will be pleasant.” The man stepped aside and pointed down the hallway where some butlers where taking their bags. “Right this way please.”

Elric held Melissa’s hand in his as they walked and leaned towards her, “do you love it?”

“It’s beautiful,” Melissa admitted. The place was breathtaking, it was definitely like the sly king to go out of his way to get into Melissa’s good graces. She glanced at the maids and butlers who were currying their bags, carrying blankets, towels and candles to what she assumed would be their room. “Don’t they have other guests to serve as well?” Melissa asked.

“For the next few days all of them are only here to serve you my love,” Elric responded, “I wanted our time here to be uninterrupted so I rented the whole inn out for us.”

That statement made Melissa gulp, so she really was stuck in this place with Elric and no one else, that thought was very worrying to her.

Back at the entrance, Cassandra watched as Elric led Melissa to their room and took a deep breath. Would she really be able to pull this off? The king seemed to be very attached to his wife. With her experience working in a brothel she knew that the most difficult men to please and persuade were those who loved their wives, and king Elric seemed like one of them.

Earlier that day, her lady had given Cassandra detailed instructions of what was expected of her.

“I know this sounds extremely controversial but under no circumstances should the king sleep with his wife,” Astrid explained. “Your job is to distract him at all times, and what better distraction is there than a beautiful woman like yourself.”

Astrid was confused, wasn’t the king here with his wife on their honeymoon? Wasn’t sleeping together the whole point of all of this?

“I can see you have questions,” Astrid asked the beautiful busty woman.

“Not to sound disrespectful my lady but why shouldn’t the king sleep with his own wife?”

“Great question,” Astrid responded and held Cassandra’s shoulders. “Well you see Cassandra, queen Melissa is my husband’s young sister and he cares for her oh so deeply. You may not know this, but the king actually married her against her will.”

Cassandra gasped, that was horrible. She had been forced to sleep with men she had no feelings for working as an escort and everyday she hated herself more and more for it. But for her, those men always left when they were finished and she would console herself when she was alone. But for Melissa, she was married to him, meaning she didn’t just have to give herself up unwillingly in the sexual sense, but also emotionally and mentally. That must be the worst thing ever, spending your whole life with someone you don’t love.

“I will tell you the details in due time my beautiful Cassandra,” Astrid assured the woman while stroking her cheek. “All you need to know now is that if Melissa ends up pregnant for the king during this honeymoon, any hopes of being free from Elric die.”