Chapter 19

19

To say we stood there slightly shell-shocked would be putting it mildly. Two marriages and not a single death. The evening had definitely not gone as expected.

At least in my case, I came out a winner. Levi was my husband. But Killian and Belle…

I glanced over and saw Prince Killian rake fingers through his hair and Belle looking bemused.

I hustled to her side to exclaim, “Fast thinking marrying the prince! And don’t you worry, I’ll have it annulled ASAP."

To my surprise, Killian shook his head. "Don’t be too quick.” He glanced at Belle. “If you don’t mind, I could use a bit of a respite from having shoes tossed at me.”

“Pity the story wasn’t about panties. They’d hurt less,” Belle quipped, and my mouth rounded in shock.

However, the prince chuckled in amusement. “These past few days have been insane. When did the curse get so bad?”

“Recently,” my flat reply. “We’ve noticed not only an increase in reenactments but a darker edge to many. It’s as if something is agitating the Grimm Effect and it’s taken an ominous turn.”

“There has to be something we can do,” Killian stated. “And before you say it, I know people have been looking?—”

Belle interrupted. “Not really. Most who dared to try and investigate the root of the curse found themselves roped into some of the uglier stories. The kind that don’t end well. Needless to say, it’s led to a lack of curiosity, as most people don’t have a death wish.”

“Maybe what happened tonight will put both your stories to bed.” I offered them a branch of hope.

“Maybe…” Belle sounded skeptical, whereas Killian offered a hesitant, “Do you think so? I’d like to believe it’s over, but I do worry an annulment will bring back the madness.”

Once more, Belle glanced at Killian. “You know, we could use this break from the curse to work on cancelling it permanently.”

“I thought you said people tried and got punished for it,” Killian reminded.

“None of them have been as determined as me, though,” Belle remarked, and I, for one, could vouch for her tenacious nature.

“Where would we even start?” Killian asked.

Having seen Belle’s research room, I wasn’t surprised she had a quick reply. “In the town that first reported the Grimm Effect. There has to be a reason it began there and spread. I say we start our search in that area.”

“We?” Killian sounded surprised, and yet he quickly nodded. “Yes, let’s do it.”

“Not alone.” Levi showed he’d been listening despite huddling with his Knights. “Hannah and Gerome will accompany you.”

“We will?” Hannah didn’t hide her surprise.

“Yes,” Levi stated with a tone that brooked no argument. “You are hereby assigned to the prince and his bride until further notice.”

“Aye, aye, boss.” Hannah rolled her eyes as she saluted him. As for Gerome, he grunted.

As we dispersed, I half expected Levi to whisk me away. After all, it was our wedding night, but my new husband had business to attend to. Not willingly, but I wouldn’t let him shirk his duty. Despite the Ash potentials dispersing, we couldn’t be complacent because I had a feeling the curse wasn’t done with us yet.

While Levi dished out orders to the Knights, I prepared for the coming evening with Rory as my bodyguard in the hall outside the open door. The dress stayed on, but I took down my hair from its intricate coiffe. The mice brushed it out until it crackled but fled out of sight when Levi arrived. Izzy hustled to a spot under the dresser. Guess they knew what would be coming next. Anticipation curled my toes.

My new husband entered and firmly shut the door. His expression smoldered, and my mouth went dry. Odd because we’d been intimate, so why did it feel different this time?

“Hello, husband,” I said softly.

“Wife,” he stated with a low rumble. “ My wife.”

I shivered at the possessiveness of it. This was the man I would spend my life with. My partner. My lover. My Knight in shining armor.

I couldn’t have said who moved first, only that we came together for a passionate kiss that had him lifting me from the floor and twirling me around.

When he set me on my feet, I laughed, a little breathless.

“What’s so funny?”

“The way things worked out. Guess Godmother knew you and I were in love.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Why else give you a ring? A ring that fits snugly on your finger and yet happened to fall in front of me. A ring that served as my shoe. She knew I wouldn’t marry Killian.”

“I’ll admit I was a tad a worried,” Levi admitted.

“I’d have let those Ash potentials tear me apart before I hurt you,” I admitted.

“Yeah, that wouldn’t have happened. I have good aim.” A dark reply and yet I saw it for what he meant. He loved me too much to let me come to harm.

“I love you,” I murmured.

“I love you more than anything, my beautiful princess wife.”

“Then kiss me and make this a night to remember,” I demanded, and he strove to make my wish come true.

His mouth found mine for hungry kiss, which lasted only a moment before he nipped my bottom lip and growled, “Let’s get you out of that dress.”

Mmm… I wouldn’t mind getting him naked, too. The uniform looked good on him, but stripped of it with all his flesh and muscles for me to admire was even better.

Levi made quick work of the buttons on the back of my dress, and once released, the whole thing slid down my body to the floor and he groaned. “I will never tire of seeing your gorgeous body.”

“How about instead of looking, you touch?” I teased.

Levi dragged me close, but rather than resume our kiss, his lips went to my neck, where he nibbled and nipped before traveling down to my breasts. He cupped them, squeezed them together, and smothered his face in the crevice he formed. When he sucked my taut nipples, I gasped and held on to his head, tugging at his hair while mashing him against my breasts, telling him without words what I wanted.

He sucked them. His tongue swirling around the tips. His teeth pinching my flesh, making me gasp.

My knees buckled at all the sensations, but Levi was there to catch me. Holding me firmly, he walked us to the bed. The backs of my legs hit it first, and I sat down, parting my thighs for him to slip between. His cock jutted proudly from his groin, and I grabbed it for a tug, which led to him sucking in a breath.

“My naughty princess,” he breathed.

“About to get naughtier,” I teased, switching my position so I could bring my mouth level with his shaft.

With one hand gripping him firmly, I latched onto the head of him, and his cock twitched. He groaned when I pulled him into my mouth, suctioning the length of him while sliding his shaft in and out. I found a rhythm and bobbed my head along his length, excited by the way he hummed in pleasure, loving the tug as his fingers threaded my hair.

I could feel him getting harder. Thicker. Pulsing. And I wanted it. Wanted him to come in my mouth, but he had other plans.

“My turn,” he growled.

I wasn’t about to argue. I lay on the bed, legs parted, wet and quivering as he lay between my thighs and buried his face. His tongue lapped at me, long, slow strokes that went across my clit and slid between my nether lips.

“Oh.” Pretty sure he didn’t need to hear my moans to know how much I enjoyed his mouth on me. My pleasure built quickly. Coiling tight within, making my channel clench, which led me to whisper, “I need you inside me.”

I wanted to climax around him. To feel him inside me as I came.

Instead, his tongue went to my clit and his fingers found the moist core of me, penetrating, stroking, pushing me over the edge.

I cried out as I orgasmed, a sweet ripple that had him grunting before he covered my body with his. The tip of his throbbing cock poked at my sex, wetting the head before he began pushing it in. The width of him stretched me, and the length of him reached my sweet spot inside. He thrust, deep, firm plunges into my still-quivering sex. Over and over. He stroked my dying orgasm into a new coiling pressure. I tightened around his pulsing cock. Encouraged him with the dig of my nails in his back.

And when I came a second time, he joined me, bellowing my name. “I love you, Cinder.”

“Oh, how I love you, too, my sweet Knight,” I purred as I came down from that blissful high.

“How did I get so lucky?” he murmured, cradling me close as the aftershocks tingled between my legs.

“It wasn’t luck but fate,” I declared.

He snorted. “A fate that kept conspiring to keep us apart.”

I had to wonder because, after all, all those things that happened only drew us closer together.

We made love a second time, slower, more sensually, and finished with our gazes locked. So intimate.

But also sticky. “I need to bathe,” I declared when he tucked me into him, readying to sleep.

“As my princess desires.” Levi rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to run the bath. When I entered, I noticed he’d even added bubbles, but before I could step into the steaming pleasure, a head rose from the tub.

Nicola emerged, her green hair crowned in suds. Upon seeing her, I worried that Levi might be wrong about the wedding. Would she be angry we’d gotten married without her?

“Mother, what have I said about visiting me in the bathroom?” Levi stated in a chiding tone, his bulky nude body providing a shield for mine.

“I won’t be here long. Just wanted to say congratulations. You’ve chosen a fine bride, even if her hips are too narrow, but with today’s medical advancements, the babe in her belly should be born without issue.”

I blinked. Pretty sure Levi stopped breathing.

Nicola smirked. “I’ll leave you two to enjoy your wedding night. But will add, don’t forget your promise.”

With that, she sank under the water in the tub, while I rocked on my heels trying to wrap my head around the fact I was pregnant.

Levi faintly said, “Did she just imply…”

I nodded and grabbed his hand to place it on my belly. “We’re going to be parents.”

Levi keeled over and splashed into the tub, only barely missing smacking his head. I panicked and ran for aid since I couldn’t lift him out.

“Gerome! Help. Levi fainted.”

“Like fuck,” his initial reply.

“I told him I was pregnant.”

At those words, Gerome came at a run to help, and for the first time ever, I heard the quiet man laugh before he grunted, “Boss man is gonna make a great dad.”

And a great husband, because this was my story and I would live a happily ever after.