. . .

[[ You entered the King's chambers trying not to seem hurried but you felt cheated of grace in your entry where you were quick to rest your crown to his scribing bureau and then turn to find him.

Softly, you called his name after making sure the door had closed behind you for his privacy. You heard nothing in the first second, nearing the bed where he had the long sheer linens of his canopy drawn as he did when he took these early evening retires.

Your hand reached to separate the thin curtains and you found him in the bed where he called for you by name. He was lying there with his head upon the pillows, seeming at the end of his exhaustion with a vial from the apothecary still in his grasp having just drank to recover some of his strength brought on by the tiresome day and you knelt.

"My King.." you cooed, seeing as he turned to face you still in his silver mask.

"Y/N-" he said again weakly, having a haggard slur to his speech, waving you closer where you could hear him more clearly.

"I must confess." He began with a break in his voice, "It brings me shame to have spoken ill to your father his first night here. I should've strayed from the temptation of anger but I could not. All I could see was your veils wet with tears from his absence. I wanted him to know that your sorrow comes at a price. But that is not Godly. I'll ask your forgiveness before The Lord's."

You drew a breath when you stood, resting your weight on the bed at his side when you took his face in your hands, minding the head silk that always fell across your shoulder when you leaned close. Gently, you took his mask, removing it with the bravery you were proud of now after these months of loving him and you said to him wrapped in his bandages that lined his face,

"You won't receive forgiveness. Because you do not require it. Father believes Hadjari rests at the top of the world, rooted there by his own hand. He is proud and I knew that something of his doing would lead you to anger. But I am without qualm. He even found pride in your exchange. Because he knows you care for me."

Baldwin's torn lip curled up in a half smile and said slowly in a nod, "At least there will be some understanding between us in that regard."

You smiled back before easing your mouth down to his in a kiss that assured him he need not worry for your feelings if it came to animosity between him and your father. You'd been fighting for your father's approval all your days before this night and finally it was the last of your priorities now. Baldwin kissed in return sweetly, letting his eyes flutter for a moment that was meant to ease him.

But your lips against his always took their toll on his heart.

His gloved hands petted your jaw lovingly as your mouths moved together but his hands wandered again to place you atop his lap with your body curved to lie atop him in a straddle. You hummed to feel his arms hug around you closer before his weight shifted. He sat up slowly to make you gasp that he was using his strength to join you both closer.

Slowly, his kisses then traveled down your neck alike his breath that warmed your skin but gave you chills that shivered you into a soft state of arousal. Your head tilted to allow him the space to graze down to your collar bone before you spoke between you in a needing whisper,

"You need to rest, My King."

Your mouth moved to the shell of his ear hidden beneath his coverings and spoke further to ease him away from what you knew was coming when both of you shared an open, passionate kiss in privacy that led you both to being embraced in his bed,

"I came to see you have peace before supper. You're exhausted."

Baldwin purred against your shoulder, his mouth agape languidly to press more kisses that teased you but we're laced with affection. Yet, his words thrilled you as the gravel of his hollow, sultry tone most found at the hours midnight, found you now,

"My weariness does not stop me…from desiring you."

You wanted to ask more of what your father had told you about their discussion, but now your eyes were rolling back in a flutter of your eyelids to hear him whisper so sweetly. Your legs stirred and you said with a salacious smile coming to your mouth between gasps of air, playing into his teases with sensual jest,

"We'll be late for supper-.."

"My beloved, trying to seduce me before a meal with your father? Was it I that gave a kiss so sublime? I recall differently." He teased with a grin growing.

"No- I'd be taking my clothes off if I wanted to seduce you, Your Grace."

"You should do just that." You heard him say after a pause that stilled you and your hands gently braced to lie him back to the bed. He reached for his mask to place back to his face but you stopped him, saying with your eyes that he would be seen as your body would be.

Your hands still shook as you loosened the knotted string behind your nape to free your day gown and opened the small button from your tightened smock. As you shimmied the linen down your chest, freeing your curves only for him to see, you felt beneath you as his body reacted in time with his eyes widening.

"Oh, what a sight." He breathed heavily in what felt like a gasp before he swallowed,

"You want me to lie, don't you?" He asked, spearing his gaze up to see if you'd give him any leniency for this and he knew you'd do that slow nod to your head that gave no mercy.

"My King is tired. And I shall help him rest. I remain true to…my intentions." You answered, feeling a jitter of nerves to realize this would be the first time he had lied completely down for love making- something you wanted since the first time he touched you.

He watched you raise the skirts of your day gown , unraveling and separating the under silk from the heavy textile atop and he took your chin when you looked away, taking your mouth for another kiss before the moment could turn to lust. You felt the first graze of his tongue across your bottom lip and you felt desperate to finally free your bottom half from under your dress.

As his mouth lapped with yours, more open and messy, he made effort to free himself from beneath you. His cincture belt became unraveled with a tug that you aided with prying fingers. His weight was propped onto one elbow and excitedly you felt your core become teased then by the tip of his cock.

He grunted to feel your arousal already meeting him with such a warm abundance and he said with a choked breath that lulled his words in pleasure,

"Don't hurt yourself, y/n. I've forbidden this because you're a new bride that's still learning my body and your pleasure. Do you understand?"

You nodded with half lidded eyes to assure that you weren't lost in your passion just yet and you promised to move slow atop him. He stayed planted on his elbow while your weight eased down to begin penetration that was careful and gentle- but agonizing to take so slowly in such a decadent heat that overtook you both.

Baldwin shut his eyes tightly, only breaking his gaze to feel your walls around his cock deliciously. His hand gripped your hip where he planned to stop you if you tried to move fast at first. His eyes cut the space between you to assure himself you were staying careful with yourself now that your bodies were joined.

You nodded, breathless with your lips already shaking to feel his length already so deep inside, throbbing and owning you silently. You then ground your hips across him for the first time with a slow and experimental pace to ease his caution. But you wanted his delight. As the bed began to groan beneath your movements, and you heard the uptick in your husband's breath, you reached.

Slowly, your hand took the bottom of his silver mask where you were met with hesitation that you planned for.

"No, my angel. Nngh, not yet."

His eyes were half lidded in a glaze of pleasure staring up to you and you answered while keeping your careful pace,

"I want to know what pleases you, my king. Let me see. And this mask will steal your breath."

He gave in when you tried again and you turned the silver disguise to the pillow where you saw that his mouth already hung open for air. He looked to you in yearning, hoping now that you wouldn't discover so soon as to why he had forbade this position thus far. Besides your lack of physical experience.

As your hips ground further, his eyes closed tighter where you felt him throb inside you so sublime. Your back arched to the sensation and he watched your body wind upwards in this divine bend of its liking. He groaned and finally once you saw him again, so washed in pleasure and begging in the eyes for you to continue, you knew.

"Baldwin-" you rasped as your hips rolled,

"You knew that we would like this….too much. Didn't you? That's…why you've denied this for so long."

He grunted and caught a breath with his tired head turned to the side where he stifled another swathe of bodily euphoria that would've made him call out. After a dry swallow, he said with his teeth nearly gritting to feel his passions beginning to climb.

"Because…I would like this too much. Because you would make me melt much too fast…just from the sight of you…working to please me."

You moaned to hear him admit it and feeling of his gripped hands at your hips only drove you further. Softly, beneath the sounds and whispers of your body moving the linens of his bed, you heard his quiet voice coaching your movements. His lips shook in muted trembles to tell you, to beg you to 'keep going-' or praises that were warm in a glow as he was becoming satisfied, 'yes, just like this.'

The groaning of the bed became more prominent as you then began to feel your own pleasure meeting you with a chill and you wished that someone wouldn't hear but you knew that everyone that passed his chamber understood…that the king never slept during his evening rests when you were requested to join him. It was something unspoken in the halls of the citadel that only his Queen could disturb his peace in the afternoon.

And you often did.

"Baldwin-!" You cried, unable to stifle the sharpness of your voice for the sake of others,

"My love-" you stuttered, trying to tell him that your body was nearing its great finish and he felt his legs twining, his muscles tensing in watch of your passion slowly beginning to unfurl.

"Do not stop." He told you, knowing your mind would try to convince your body to slow for his enjoyment to continue. And he forbade it.

"I want…to sate you, Baldwin. Mm, my king." You purred until his gloved hands balled the loose fittings of your gown emphatically and his mouth hung open for air when he said, choking on breath to carry him to an orgasm,

"Your pleasure…sates me, y/n. Do as I've said."

Your hips rode and writhed for seconds more where you felt the release begin to chill you. In the sudden, jarring descent of the moment, your legs shook where you cried out for him with your head tilted back.

The King watched from below and felt as your body hugged around him, squeezing and gripping around his length that already throbbed as his ecstasy found him, making him grit his teeth and curving his back against the bed as it rocked him.

"Oh, my Queen." He breathed laboriously but with a smile creeping onto his face and you smiled the same, feeling like young lovers causing mischief in these moments alone and you were then lied carefully across his collar.

Your head was petted like a prize made of fine silk, encouraged to stay with him until morning and you agreed with a contented sigh.

"What else did father say? I remember now..of what I wanted to ask you when I arrived." You giggled softly and Baldwin had already begun in a slow drift towards peaceful sleep, but he answered in a murmur,

"I'll tell you in the morning. I think he was making…a joke. Because he couldn't have been serious. Never …took him to be a man of humor. But I indulge..in being wrong."

You smiled with a tired snicker that never left your throat and together you slept with the king until well into the early, pale blue morning. Just before dawn, you rose athirst for water but also you felt the need for fresh air away from his medicinal haze of frankincense that loomed heavy in the mornings.

You entered the large corridor after rising, tying your long silk robe to keep you decent in your stroll, minding the hair that had fallen astray during your time with the king and Sir Isaac came to your side once your presence was known in the King's Hall.

"Shall I accompany you on your walk, Your Grace?" The palace knight asked, having stood guard outside Baldwin's chambers in the night.

"No-" you told him, gesturing for him to stay at ease,

"Stay with the King. I believe he'll rise soon."

"Directly, Your Grace-" He said with a gallant nod, still grasping the hilt of his sword when you walked further to pass by the long open terrace between the gapped pillars where one could peer down into the sandstone below. It felt in the air that rain had fallen in the night but you could hear movement that made your head turn to observe closer.

Your hands met the half wall that lined the catwalk that would lead you to the gardens but you looked down to search with your eyes until finally you saw the cause of the subtle commotion.

Tariq, your father's lieutenant, swung his long spear in practice with the pointed blades on either side of the home crafted weapon swirling at his back, whirring the air in rhythms that you could hear even from far away. He spun on his feet to complete a turn made in offensive to the sparring opponent made of morning air but his back met you again.

Your feet turned to continue to the garden but his voice then spoke across the empty terrace, having heard even the soft drags of your morning robe across the castle floor.

"Your father missed you at dinner, Princess." He turned with a smirk you would've liked him to keep to himself but you made your discontent known when you corrected him thusly in your home tongue,

"I am Queen now. You will address me as such."

Your sharp and nearly spiteful turn only made his smirk grow wider and he watched you leave until he spoke again at your back, something that began to annoy you,

"Did your King husband grant your father's request? Surely not after merely hours. He will have to consider the risk he is taking."

"I know not of what you speak-"

"-Your father wants you to fight in this war, y/n." He said, polishing the end of his blade with a cloth from his belt as if the words held nothing but the weight of an idea in passing,

alt version & process stuff (*´▽｀*)