Sleeping Beauty Page 5

  He worked for long hours, only emerging when he caught Rory yawn. He glanced at a nearby clock. “By all gods, it’s two in the morning.” They’d been at it since nine in the morning the previous day. Seventeen hours straight, without any breaks, although Anna had seen that food was served to them four times.

  Rory had been perfection in the morn. Her hair weaved in an elaborate plait, not a strand out of place, her modest, simple, light blue silk dress without a crease, and pearls around her neck. The pearls were still there, but that was where the resemblance stopped. Her hair was messy; she’d run her fingers through it a time or two in frustration. Her dress was wrinkled, and her simple makeup was practically gone. She was tired, her lids heavy, her cheeks flushed. All he could think was that she wouldn’t look very dissimilar after a good fuck. If he laid her down on the desk, pulled her skirts to her waist, and buried his head between her legs until she screamed his name, she’d have the same wrinkles, the same messy hair, the same exhausted features. Perhaps the same smile too when she lifted her gaze and looked at him.

  “What?”

  “I’ve just seen the time.”

  She looked too, and her pretty lips popped open. “Oh.”

  “Yes, oh. It’s well past time to get you to bed.”

  And how she blushed at the mention of bed.

  “And don’t let me overwork you like this again.”

  “I wasn’t aware that I was letting you do anything, Rupert.”

  And she wasn’t. She was here because she wanted to be. She hadn’t asked for anything in exchange.

  “It’s just come to my attention that I need to pay you.”

  “You are. I’m a scientist of the Crown and have quite a generous salary.”

  “Mayhap, but right now I’m not using you in your former capacity. I’ll see what the Crown pays her ministers and councilmen.”

  She winced. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  He didn’t ask why. He just smiled knowingly.

  She was thinking of how him paying her a large sum would look. And she thought that because she knew, and accepted the fact, that he would soon start courting her.

  His groin tightened. How he wished he had time for her now. But he didn’t. Part of it was their ungodly amount of work, but the other part…

  Guilt. Simple as that. He wouldn’t, couldn’t think of his own pleasure, his own happiness while the child he loved, his daughter, laid in darkness and cold, lifeless.

  He’d attempted to contact Mal every way he could. No doubt, she’d heard of his return by now. Every news channel talked of it throughout the lands. He’d received messages from every single nation of Gaia, welcoming him back to life.

  Yet no news of her.

  His order of priority was thus: the kingdom, his child, and then himself. Thinking of Rory, Lady Aurora Stephenson, was taking care of himself. It wouldn’t, couldn’t come first.

  Still. He’d never wanted any woman as much as her. Had he met her back in the day, no advisor would have been able to sway him from the inevitable path, regardless of consequences and politics. He would have wed her. No one else. Part of him wondered if fate had intervened, making him survive a century, so that he might live to see the woman made for him in every way. The woman who, with one look, made him forget almost everything.

  Amusing how the two most important persons in his life shared the same name.

  “Fine, I won’t. I shall simply use and abuse you without remuneration, at your insistence. Now, let us go to sleep. I don’t want to see you back here until at least noon.”

  “Will you sleep until noon?” she countered, making him smile.

  “I’m king. Sleep isn’t part of the job requirements.”

  And besides, he’d had the hardest time falling asleep these days. Too much of it for a hundred years, no doubt. Since he’d moved from her terrible sofa to his comfortable bed, sleep had altogether eluded him. His body may need it, but his mind had had quite enough of it.

  “Well, let us compromise. As long as you promise to also rest until ten, I won’t go back to work a minute sooner,” she countered.

  Wasn’t she just cute.

  “You’re bargaining with me?”

  “It appears I am.”

  “Eleven o’clock. That gives you an hour to get ready and eight hours of sleep.”

  “Very well then.” She got up and moved to stand in front of him, holding her hand out. “Eleven. We have a deal.”

  He looked at the hand she wanted him to shake. Until now, she’d simply bowed her goodbye from a distance before running off, which had been wise of her.

  Rupert ignored her hand, tugging at the hem of her skirt, pulling her to him. “I’ll seal bargains with you another way, Rory mine,” said he, half expecting her to move away, push him, fight him. She didn’t.

  Rupert circled her waist with his hand and pulled her on his lap, eyes on her lips. This hadn’t been the plan. But she’d gotten close to him, close enough for him to touch her, so the plan had gone out the window.

  He started with a kiss on her chin, then another one on her neck, and her shoulder, while one of his hands caressed her leg. Her dress was so very proper, just one inch below the knee.

  Her breasts rose so high his attention couldn’t go anywhere but on her conservative neckline and then fall again.

  The hand still around her waist moved her closer to him, higher on his lap, until one of her legs rested right against his hardness. Then finally, he took her mouth, slowly and thoroughly. Her lips parted in an unsaid invitation he wasn’t taking. He felt her heat, her desire mirroring his. If he responded now, there would be no turning back.

  “There,” said he, removing his hand from her thigh and moving her back to her feet. “Consider this bargain well and truly sealed. I’ll see you at eleven, princess.”

  Chapter 12

  Allowing himself one small taste had been a mistake. He spent the entire night—or morning—tossing and turning, replaying each excruciating moment in his mind. In other circumstances, he might have retreated to his office as soon as the light of dawn had risen, but he’d made a promise. Each promise he made to her, he intended to keep.

  He watched TV, yet again attempting to catch up on years of news. The king of Alenia appeared with his wife and son to speak of his return. Said he had every hope their kingdoms may remain allies now. Rupert made a mental note to reach out to the boy. Or man, for they seemed around the same age, although Rupert had a hundred years on Daniel.

  The woman at Daniel’s side got his attention. She was short and a brunette, but these two features aside, she very much looked like Rory. He’d ask her how they were related. No doubt their familial links would help mend whatever fences needed to be mended between Alenia and Ferren.

  Other monarchs and people of importance spoke of him; he was the man of the hour, it seemed. Some questioned, others applauded, his decision to disband the Council and see that his next advisors were elected. Commoners loved it, and foreigners wished their own kingdoms functioned that way.

  Rupert winced. It wouldn’t make him popular amongst his peers. But he’d had no choice. There was no trusting the men seated at his side, and he knew not whom he should lend an ear to. Who better to decide that than the men and women who’d lived during this age?

  The eyes of the world were on him, on his next move. They knew he was either convalescing or getting acquainted with the current climate, but there was no doubt that he would act soon. They wanted to see how.

  Rupert took notes and changed the channel. The next documentary was positively fascinating, to him at least. It was about her.

  Rory had told him she’d been engaged twice; she’d never mentioned that it had been to two kings. The reporter delved into the two failed relationships, quick to point out how Rory had, each time, seemed cold and remote. She rarely smiled and was often absent from official events. Her reason had always been her work. Developments with her latest experiment. Her reason had always be
en him.

  “After years of working tirelessly on reanimating the fallen king, it seems Aurora Stephenson has finally been successful in her endeavors. One cannot wonder what’s next for the most brilliant mind of our kingdom. We have it on good authority that she’s been invited to take the lead on various projects, such as medical research and astrophysics. Yet Miss Stephenson hasn’t answered any queries. Close friends of the lady reveal they’ve not heard a word from her since last week. Her father has been unavailable for comment. Her aunt, always the colorful sort, advised us to get off her property before she set her gnomes on us. You’ll recall that Miss Stephenson comes from an unorthodox background.”

  “Lady Stephenson, to you,” Rupert grumbled at the large, flat TV screen that was ten thousand times better than the big boxes they’d had back in his day.

  “Her mother left her on her father’s doorstep and hasn’t been seen since. Her aunt, who has taken an active part in her education, refuses to speak of the rest of her family. As nobles in Ferren need to have three generations clearly marked on their paperwork, Miss Stephenson has been unable to claim her father’s title. Some say it may be the reason why she worked so very hard at making a name for herself…”

  Rupert frowned. How bloody nonsensical. He glanced at the clock and was relieved to see it was ten now; he’d wasted enough time.

  Getting up, he ventured to the bathroom, feeling like a knight who’d tamed a monster. Bathrooms had changed more than computers and television screens in a hundred years. He wasn’t going to ever mention how long it had taken him to work out his toilet. Or the fact that he’d screamed when a jet of clean water had burst out, intending to clean his ass for him. It made sense; who ever thought that wiping shit was enough to be clean? But he’d still yelled like someone had attempted to fit a broomstick in his asshole.

  The showers weren’t easy to work out, but once he had, he’d sighed in delight. The multiple heads coming from the ceiling and the walls? He wholeheartedly approved. He’d developed a pronounced liking for it and wasn’t ashamed to linger over half an hour, practically purring under the hot, high-pressure water.

  He went to get dressed, adding another line to his notes. He needed new clothes. His were entirely too old fashioned, and the maids who’d washed them had needed to get rid of over half of his wardrobe. One item amongst a million other things one had to think of after so many years.

  Aurora would need clothes too.

  Dammit, where was Mal now?

  Finally, it was time. He stepped into his office at one minute past eleven. Rory walked in right after him. She hadn’t slept a wink either, he could tell. She was just as stunning as ever, but she looked like she was ready to curl up in a corner. He felt a little guilty, but mostly proud, knowing it had been his kiss keeping her from her rest. His lips on hers.

  “We’re taking the morning off.”

  “What?” she said, astonished, looking at the mountains of files they still needed to sort through.

  “You haven’t slept,” he stated. “Nor have I. Follow me.”

  He passed his small office, his music room, his library, and headed back to his room. Rupert removed his shoes, undid the top buttons of his shirt, and got into bed.

  “Well, what are you standing there for?” he teased.

  Rory blushed.

  “Come, we both need sleep.”

  And he couldn’t get any if she wasn’t in the room.

  “Don’t you give me that look. Your virtue is quite safe,” he assured her.

  “Well, that’s not what you said the last time us sharing a bed was suggested.”

  “That was yours, at night. This is mine, during the day, while I’m playing king. I’ll keep my hands to myself if it kills me.”

  And it just might.

  Chapter 13

  She was asleep before her head hit the pillow. She loved to pretend that exhaustion had won, but truth was she’d slept ill for days without him there, worrying that something might happen to him, that someone might attack him while he was away. With his heat next to hers, her system immediately shut down, giving in.

  Aurora woke up before him and watched him sleep. A smile played on her lips as she wondered how many times had she done that in the past? But it had never felt like this. Like she had a right to the possessiveness she’d always felt. Like he might be hers.

  “I can feel you staring, you know,” said he, without opening his eyes.

  “Sorry?” She then asked, “Why are you pretending to sleep?”

  “I’m waiting for you to be so good as to move from the bed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because,” he replied, “I’m a man of my word, and I said I was to be honorable. Only, I was exhausted, and quite stupid too. If you’re still next to me in my bed when I open my eyes, I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my promise.”

  Oh.

  What if I don’t want you to keep your promise? she almost asked. Aurora bit her lip.

  She remained in the bed for a long minute, feeling each second, each of his heartbeats and hers. Then she finally moved. He opened his eyes

  “Tell me about Aurora,” she asked, while putting her shoes on.

  Rupert lifted a brow.

  “Aurora?”

  “Yes, your daughter.”

  He hesitated. “She isn’t.” She frowned at his words. “She isn’t my daughter, not by blood. I only touched Marina once, to ratify our union. Trust me when I say neither of us needed a second run of that particular mess. Officially, of course, Aurora is mine. And in my heart, she certainly is too. Marina was a terrible mother. I started to care for the child out of duty, and she ended up creeping her way into my heart.”

  “Sounds like she very much is your daughter to me.”

  He smiled, visibly glad she got it. “Maleficent will know how to undo her blasted spell by now.”

  “And what makes you so certain she’ll wish to help?”

  Rupert shrugged. “She’s my closest friend. At least she was.”

  Aurora’s jaw dropped, and he laughed. “Why is that such a surprise?”

  “She’s—” Evil. “—not a nice person. Her reputation is dreadful. She got me in quite a fix a while back too. Well, not me personally…”

  She stopped talking, knowing they were going down a slippery slope now.

  “I’m not going to let that go, Rory. Tell me.”

  She groaned. “I was young and silly at the time.”

  “Weren’t we all.”

  “I was engaged to a man who didn’t care very much for me. I can’t say I cared either. It was a purely political match arranged by my father.”

  “I’m not over-fond of your father. Go on.”

  “Well, he cheated. I knew that, but when I witnessed it, I wasn’t very happy and I—” She winced. “—may have wished.”

  He frowned.

  “My aunts told me I have the power to wish for something; two things, in fact. My fay ancestors have to grant them. I wished a very dreadful thing for Aiden, and he was cursed. His entire kingdom suffered for it. It was Maleficent who granted the wish, I heard. I’ve always felt so guilty. My fault, you’d say, but she certainly didn’t need to make the situation so very dreadful.”

  Rupert was now smiling fondly. “Sorry,” he said. “Mal is very, very vicious. A cat playing with her prey. She doesn’t make any apology for it, it’s in her nature. I take her for what she is, and she takes me for what I am.”

  He sounded just as fond of her as he was of his daughter. Aurora felt a nasty little heart pop out and whisper poisonous words. It was obvious that he liked Maleficent; perhaps he loved her too. He was so anxious to find her…

  For the sake of his daughter, she told herself, wishing that feeling away. She wasn’t going to give in to jealousy, not for a man who wasn’t even hers. She just wasn’t. She’d seen how ugly she could be when she let that particular monster roar its head.

  She hadn’t even liked, let alone loved, Aiden Ar
cher, but she’d still hated seeing a man tied to her by honor stray that way. It had cut deep into her pride, creating insecurities that she’d taken years to master. Daniel De Luz had been just as indifferent to her but more discreet in his affairs. She hadn’t even cared by then.

  The very thought of Rupert preferring another woman to her set her teeth on edge though. So much for being over it.

  “If you’re such good friends, I’m surprised you don’t know how to reach her.”

  Rupert sighed. “I do.” He posed. “Her dwelling is less than half an hour’s ride from the palace.”

  Aurora nodded; everyone knew that.

  “Back in the day, all I had to do was pass nearby and she’d appear, when she felt so inclined. But it’s obviously been a long time. I figured that, as she hadn’t come to welcome me back to life, she hadn’t heard of my return, but I still attempted to pass by her land. No news.” He sighed again. “Fays don’t always pay attention to our world. Sometimes, they even go to sleep for an extended amount of time.”

  “So, what now?”

  “Now,” said he, “we get the work we need to get done out of the way as quickly as possible. And once we have a government, and I finally can take a few days off, I’ll have to do things the hard way.”

  “The hard way?” she repeated.

  “Go to her home. Even if she isn’t there, should a human get to her fortress, she’ll feel it.”

  Aurora couldn’t believe her ears. That was his plan? It sounded downright suicidal. “And what would she do to that stranger?”

  Rupert just laughed it off.

  “You honestly don’t want to know. But it won’t be a stranger. It’ll be me. It’ll work out.”