Pampered by the Villainous Tyrant King

Chapter 31 (M)

"Come here." He pulled her onto his lap for a warm hug.

The queen looked at him, as if thinking that he was doing it on purpose. Well, he was. But she didn't pull away from him either, leaning into his chest.

"You can sleep some more if you want," Percy said. "Once the Festival of Bounty approaches, there'll be more work and less time to rest than ever before."

Fortunately, it was the Festival of Bounty that was coming up. If it had been the spring Festival of Fertility, Percy was afraid that the queen might run away from the traditional nightly activities that was required of the Eldoris king and queen to symbolize the fertility of the lands and people. Historically, it was just an excuse for previous generations of kings to expand his harem and make love to his numerous concubines through the week-long festival.

Percy kissed the queen's forehead. One queen was enough for him.

The queen shook her head. "If I fall asleep again, I won't be able to sleep at night."

"Suit yourself."

Somehow one of his hands ended up playing with her hair. Her hair was much smoother and shinier than when he had first met her. The whole exterior of the person had changed, but the inside was as strong as ever.

He couldn't help but nuzzle his face in the crook of her neck. Her fresh, lemony perfume mixed with the clean scent of the outdoors was beginning to drive him crazy. Had some deity come and cast a spell of lust on him?

"Ticklish," the queen complained.

"Ticklish?"

He raised an eyebrow. Perhaps sensing something in his devilish smile, the queen blanched and shook her head quickly.

"Pooh, you're no fun," Percy said, abandoning his plans of tickling her sides.

Instead, his hand dropped from her hair to skim alongside her torso absentmindedly. The queen stiffened for a brief moment before finally relaxing after seeing that he wasn't going to tickle her.

Another time, Percy thought. When they were on an actual bed, and he could pin her underneath him to lavish soft kisses on her bare skin.

Percy sighed and closed his eyes. Crazy. He was being driven to near insanity with her soft body and enticing fragrance coming off from the queen. She wasn't making it any better as she snuggled into his warmth, her chest pressing against him.

His body still recalled that time when her hands had swept over his chest, lighting a fire inside him that he had never felt before. Was this because he had never truly been with a woman before in both his past and present lives?

The war with Kiran and Tynan as well as the civil unrest within his own court had taken up all his time. He had not wanted any concubines and even rejected the woman his father sent to teach him on his eighteenth birthday about bedroom and night etiquette. After all, even that woman had been planted as a spy from the dowager queen.

Now the future had changed, and he had received a taste of the pleasures of the bed. It only ignited him further instead of satiating his appetite. Yet, he feared the woman in his arms would run the moment he came on too strongly. Her goal was a divorce, after all.

Slowly, slowly, his mind warned. Like luring a curious bunny deeper into the woods before the rabbit realized that the trees were walls of bramble.

Perhaps then, it was a misfortune that the Festival of Fertility wasn't coming up. His patience was also reaching his limit with his body wanting the woman he held in his arms but compelled to hold himself back.