Kerttu's Selection

General Leger - Chapter 15

"Hello, General Leger!" I chirped, walking into his office.

Genera Aspen Leger was an old family friend and maintainer of security at the palace. He had become a grey fox over the last couple of years, silver beard, yet he still looked handsome. Amberly used to have a schoolgirl crush on him but that had quickly faded.

"Kerttu," he greeted from his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"Can't I ever stop by just to hang out?" I took a seat across from him.

He chuckled while straightening out some papers. "You kids always need something."

"Yeah, I do," I admitted bashfully. "One of my suitors. I was wondering if I could send more money to his family. Without anyone knowing."

He raised his eyebrows. "What is going on, Kerttu?"

I sighed. "You promise to never tell anyone?"

"I can't promise you that, you know that," he insisted passionately. He had a rule: whatever we say to him, we should be comfortable enough to say to our mother. And she was the scary one.

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed, dragging out the last vowel. "He comes from a family of prior Sevens. Without him there, they're struggling. You know how that feels." When General Leger was growing up, his family was Sixes and he was their main provider. If anyone could relate to Tyrion, it would be him.

"Please," I pleaded. "Let me increase his family's pay but I don't want that leaked to the media. I don't want them to think I like him more or that he's here for the money. If we're discrete, no one will notice." He ran the scenario through his mind, several times, blinking.

"Kerttu-"

"Please," I begged. "He needs this."

He visibly gave in. "Okay, fine, but if we get caught-"

"It's on me, I know, I know." General Leger was big on accountability.

"So this boy," he said. He looked up, studying me. "Is he special?"

I stood up with a smile. "He is."

I left his office with a wave and accidently bumped into Shaan.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized.

Instead of responding, he leaned in for a quick kiss. He kept his face extremely close, the electricity between us flaring. "I was looking for you."

I was about to respond when we heard a loud bellow behind us. "Kerttu, get out of my line of sight before I call your father in here."

I covered the laughter erupting from my mouth with my hand. I turned to General Leger who gave me a wink before returning to his papers. We navigated the hallway, passing the great paintings and portraits of those before us. A few of the suitors passed by us, not so subtly shooting glares at Shaan and getting one from me. I chose not to focus on that now.

"Why were you looking for me?" I asked, swinging my arm through his. He bent his elbow securely at a ninety degree angle before tucking his arm closer to mine.

"I just wanted to see you," he admitted and it was the first time he had ever seemed shy.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he replied. He unlocked our arms and took a hold of my arm. He delicately turned it so that he could kiss the inside of my wrist. My eyes never left his movements, trained on him. "Yeah."

My breath caught in my throat. How cliche could I get, I thought. Ah, screw it! "I need to get you to my room in about ten seconds before I explode." He could see the lust and desire in my eyes and he gave me a slow growing grin.