Chapter 48
Est kissed him again.
Slowly this time.
His mouth brushing William’s forehead first before lowering to his lips in something unbearably tender.
William made a soft sound when he kissed him.
Not desire.
Relief.
Like being touched gently after holding himself together for too long.
Est deepened the kiss carefully, one hand cradling the back of William’s neck while the other remained firm at his waist, grounding him there against his chest.
“I love you,” Est whispered against his mouth.
William’s breathing faltered immediately.
Est felt it happen.
The tiny collapse inside him.
And suddenly William buried his face against Est’s neck again with a sharp shaky exhale, arms wrapping tighter around him.
Gods.
Est closed his eyes briefly.
Because he could feel how terrified he was.
Not of scandal.
Not of politics.
Of distance.
Of absence.
Of waking up one day and realizing Est no longer belonged naturally beside him anymore.
William spoke eventually, voice muffled against his shoulder.
“I don’t know why this hurts so much.”
Est brushed his fingers slowly through his hair again.
“You do know.”
A weak bitter laugh escaped William.
“Fine.” He swallowed hard. “I know exactly why it hurts.”
Est stayed quiet.
William pulled back slightly then, enough that Est could see his face properly again.
His eyes looked ruined.
Beautiful still – gods, always beautiful – but red-rimmed and exhausted from trying not to feel too much all evening.
And still somehow he was trying to smile for Est.
That nearly shattered him.
“I’m supposed to be happy,” William whispered. “Everyone else is.”
“You are happy.”
William laughed softly through the lingering tears. “Apparently I’m also devastated.”
Est’s hand slid gently along his jaw.
“You can be both.”
William leaned into the touch instinctively before his expression shifted suddenly.
Subtly.
But enough.
Est felt it immediately.
Something else.
Still sitting beneath everything.
Still unspoken.
His thumb brushed slowly beneath William’s cheekbone. “What happened tonight?”
William hesitated.
That alone made unease curl softly through Est’s stomach.
“What do you mean?”
“Before you came here.”
William looked away instantly.
There.
That.
Est’s chest tightened.
The silence stretched too long.
Then finally William exhaled shakily and stepped backward just enough to lean against the edge of the desk behind him.
His hands twisted together restlessly.
Nervously.
“I had dinner with one of the princesses tonight.”
The words landed softly.
Still, Est physically felt the impact of them.
William still wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“My mother arranged it,” he said quietly. “Apparently she’s been corresponding with her family since we arrived.”
Est stayed very still.
Something cold and old moved through him immediately.
Not jealousy exactly.
Something sadder.
More inevitable.
Of course.
Of course this had come too.
William was a prince.
Maybe not the heir to the throne – that belonged firmly to James – but royal enough that marriage would always eventually become political business instead of personal desire.
And now Popeya’s marriage alliance was succeeding beautifully.
Other kingdoms would begin looking toward William next.
Toward opportunity.
Toward heirs.
Toward futures Est could never publicly belong inside.
The silence stretched quietly between them.
William watched him now with obvious anxiety growing in his expression.
Even now he looked more frightened of hurting Est than of his own grief.
Gods.
Finally William laughed softly under his breath.
A terrible sound.
Bitter and exhausted all at once.
“I hated it.”
Est looked at him immediately.
William rubbed one hand hard across his face.
“She was kind. Intelligent. Beautiful.” His voice cracked faintly. “And all I could think about was how badly I wanted to leave.”
Something painful twisted through Est’s chest.
William stared down at the floor afterward.
“My mother kept watching us.” He swallowed hard. “Like she could already see the future she wanted.”
Est said nothing but reached out for his hand.
William’s breathing changed the moment their hands touched.
Est threaded their fingers together carefully, squeezing once.
Firm.
Steady.
William stared at their joined hands with something close to heartbreak.
Then suddenly he whispered, voice raw and frighteningly vulnerable:
“I wish we could just belong to each other openly.”
The confession hollowed the air from the room.
Est’s throat tightened painfully.
William laughed weakly afterward like he already regretted saying it aloud.
“I’d marry you in a heartbeat.”
The words hit so hard Est almost stopped breathing entirely.
For one stunned second he could only stare at him.
Because William meant it.
Not romantically.
Not abstractly.
Literally.
William would’ve married him.
Openly.
Proudly.
Without hesitation.
A helpless breath of disbelief escaped Est halfway between a laugh and grief.
William laughed too then.
Soft.
Broken around the edges.
Because gods, what else could they do except laugh at the cruelty of it?
Est shook his head faintly, thumb brushing slowly over William’s knuckles.
“Is that a proposal, Your Highness?”
William looked up at him then.
Really looked at him.
And suddenly every trace of humor disappeared from his face.
“If the world were different,” he said quietly, “I would’ve proposed long ago.”
The sincerity in his voice nearly brought Est to his knees.
William’s throat worked hard afterward.
“I think about it sometimes,” he admitted softly. “Far more than I should.”
Est couldn’t breathe properly anymore.
William looked away again, ashamed suddenly of how much he was revealing.
“I think about waking up beside you every morning without hiding it.” His voice shook. “About introducing you properly. About touching you whenever I want instead of pretending not to stare at you across rooms like some lovesick fool.”
A tear slipped down his face.
He barely noticed.
“I think about asking you to stay with me forever,” he whispered.
Gods.
Est physically felt his heart break open.
Because William sounded so full of love.
So full of grief.
Like he was mourning a life they should’ve been allowed to have.
Est stepped closer immediately.
One hand slid gently into William’s hair while the other cupped his face with unbearable tenderness.
William leaned into the touch instantly.
Instinctively.
His eyes closed for one small shattered second.
“You love me that much?” Est whispered softly.
William opened his eyes again, visibly wrecked now.
“I don’t know how not to.”
That one destroyed him.
Completely.
Est kissed him before he could think anymore.
Deeply.
Emotionally.
Like he was trying to pour every impossible feeling inside himself into William’s mouth all at once.
Love.
Devotion.
Comfort.
Grief.
William broke against him instantly.
A soft wounded sound escaped him as he clutched hard at Est’s shirt, kissing him back with sudden desperate intensity now, like he needed the reassurance physically.
Est held him tighter.
Careful of his wounds.
Careless with everything else.
Their mouths moved slowly together while tears still dampened William’s cheeks and Est kissed him through every single one of them.
When they finally parted, William stayed close enough that their foreheads still touched.
Breathing unevenly.
Eyes glassy.
Beautiful beyond reason.
Est brushed one final kiss softly against his mouth.
“I love you too much to let titles separate us,” he whispered.
William’s face crumpled faintly.
Est kissed him again immediately before the expression could fully break him apart.
“And for what it’s worth,” he murmured softly against his lips, “I would’ve said yes before you even finished asking.”
They stayed wrapped around each other for a long time after that.
Neither moved much.
The room had gone soft and quiet around them, lit only by the low fire and scattered candlelight trembling gold across the walls. Outside, the balcony doors remained open to the sea, cool night wind drifting through the curtains in slow restless waves while the ocean crashed endlessly against the cliffs below.
William sat folded against Est’s chest on the floor beside the bed, one of Est’s arms around his waist while the other rested carefully along his back.
Close.
Warm.
Safe.
The kind of closeness born from exhaustion more than desire at first.
Their breathing slowly settled together.
Every now and then Est would press another absent kiss into William’s hair or temple, and each time he felt William soften further against him – tension leaving him piece by piece beneath gentle touch and quiet affection.
Gods.
He loved him so much.
Too much perhaps.
Enough that it physically hurt sometimes.
William’s fingers remained tangled lazily in the fabric near Est’s ribs, almost unconscious now. Like he needed constant proof Est was still there beneath his hands.
Est understood the feeling frighteningly well.
For a while neither of them spoke again.
The grief remained between them still.
But softer now.
Held together instead of suffered alone.
Eventually Est let out a quiet breath and rested his cheek lightly against William’s hair.
“You should probably go back soon.”
William didn’t move.
Est smiled faintly despite himself. “Before people start wondering where their prince disappeared to.”
That earned the faintest bitter laugh.
“I don’t care.”
Est closed his eyes briefly at the quiet honesty of it.
“William.”
“I’m serious.” William finally pulled back enough to look at him, expression tired and raw beneath the candlelight. “Let them wonder.”
Est brushed his thumb slowly along his side. “You shouldn’t give them reasons to become suspicious.”
William’s expression shifted instantly.
Hurt flickered there so quickly and openly it startled Est.
“Are you trying to send me away?”
The question landed softly.
Still, Est physically felt it.
“What? No.”
William searched his face carefully, vulnerable enough now that every emotion showed plainly before he could hide it again.
“Then why are you talking like this?” he asked quietly. “Why does it sound like you already want distance between us?”
Est’s chest tightened painfully.
“William, that’s not what I meant.”
“But you’re still saying I should leave.”
There was something almost wounded in his voice now.
Gods.
Est cupped his face immediately.
“I want you here.”
William held his gaze silently.
Est huffed softly under his breath. “Obviously I want you here.”
“Then stop trying to send me away.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
The words came sharper than intended.
William went still.
Est sighed softly afterward and brushed his thumb beneath his cheekbone gently.
“I don’t care what happens to me,” he admitted quietly. “But your position matters. Your reputation matters. We can’t be careless just because tonight hurts.”
William stared at him for a long moment.
Then suddenly something in his expression shifted.
Softer.
Darker too somehow.
Emotion melting slowly into longing.
“We haven’t touched properly in six weeks,” he whispered.
The words hit Est like heat low beneath his ribs.
Gods.
William leaned closer again before Est could answer, mouth brushing lightly against his jaw.
“Six weeks,” he repeated softly.
Est groaned under his breath immediately.
“William.”
His name dissolved into a breath against his skin.
Not teasing.
Needy.
William kissed the corner of his mouth slowly.
Then his cheek.
Then lower, against the line of his throat while cool sea wind drifted around them through the open balcony.
“I missed you,” William whispered softly against his skin.
Emotion surged hard through Est’s chest.
He slid his hand into William’s hair instinctively, fingers tightening slightly there.
“I know.”
William shook his head faintly.
“No,” he murmured. “I don’t think you do.”
And gods.
Before Est could gather another thought, William shifted fully into his lap.
Slowly.
Carefully mindful of the healing wounds beneath the bandages, but still deliberate enough that Est’s breath caught sharply anyway.
The prince settled against him with aching familiarity, knees sliding along either side of Est’s hips while one hand curled softly at the back of his neck.
The movement felt intimate in a way almost more dangerous than overt desire.
Because it wasn’t only want.
It was comfort.
Need.
Coming home.
William looked wrecked beneath the candlelight still – eyes red-rimmed, hair windblown, mouth soft from crying and kissing.
Beautiful enough it nearly hurt to look at him.
“I need you tonight,” he admitted quietly.
Not seductive.
Honest.
The vulnerability of it shattered whatever resistance remained inside Est completely.
His hands slid instinctively along William’s waist, holding him close while William bent toward him again.
Their mouths met softly this time.
Slow.
Lingering.
William kissed him like someone starved – not frantic, not rough, just unbearably thorough. Like he was trying to relearn the feeling of Est beneath his hands after weeks of denied closeness and days of fear.
Est melted beneath it immediately.
Gods.
The taste of him.
The warmth.
The familiar softness of William’s mouth moving slowly against his own while sea wind tangled through the curtains around them.
Est deepened the kiss with a quiet sound against William’s lips, one hand sliding carefully upward along his back.
William shivered.
Not from cold.
Their foreheads brushed briefly when they parted for breath.
William stayed close enough that Est could still feel every uneven inhale against his mouth.
“I don’t want anyone else,” William whispered softly.
The confession slid straight into Est’s chest.
William kissed him again before he could answer.
Slower now.
More emotional than hungry.
One hand cradled Est’s jaw gently while the other remained tangled in his hair, keeping him close like William physically couldn’t bear distance anymore tonight.
And maybe he couldn’t.
Maybe neither of them could.
Est pulled him tighter into his lap instinctively.
William made the faintest sound against his mouth – soft relief threaded through it – and suddenly all the grief and fear and impossible longing from the last several weeks seemed to melt together into this instead:
Quiet desperate tenderness.
The kind born from loving someone too much in a world that kept asking you not to.
Their slow, emotional kisses gradually deepened. Tongues slid together, breaths mingled, and the tenderness began to burn into something hotter. William shifted restlessly in Est’s lap, grinding down against him with a needy whimper.
Est’s hands instinctively moved to grip William’s waist, pulling him closer.
“Don’t,” William said sharply, catching Est’s wrist. “Your arm. You’re hurt. Keep it still.”
Est exhaled shakily but nodded. William kissed him again, slower this time, then began trailing his mouth down Est’s neck, sucking lightly at his pulse point.
“I need you,” William whispered against his skin. “But you’re going to let me take care of you tonight.”
He slid down Est’s body until he was kneeling between his spread thighs. With reverent hands, he opened Est’s robe and freed his heavy, already-hard cock. William looked up at him with dark, glassy eyes, then leaned in and took him into his mouth in one smooth, deep glide.
“Fuck – William,” Est groaned, head falling back.
William sucked him with filthy devotion – slow, wet, and messy. He bobbed his head deeply, taking Est to the back of his throat again and again, saliva dripping down the thick shaft and over his chin. He pulled off only to spit messily on the head before swallowing him back down, moaning around the length like he couldn’t get enough. Obscene, wet sounds filled the room as William worshipped his cock – sucking hard, swirling his tongue, hollowing his cheeks, and pressing his nose against Est’s pelvis until his throat fluttered around him.
Est’s uninjured hand fisted in the sheets. “Gods… your mouth – so fucking good – “
William pulled off with a gasp, strings of saliva connecting his swollen lips to Est’s glistening cock. He stroked the soaked length with both hands, twisting at the head.
“Keep your arm still,” he warned again when Est instinctively reached for him.
Then he dove back down, sucking even sloppier, gagging himself willingly on Est’s thickness until tears pricked the corners of his eyes and drool ran down his chin in shiny rivulets.
Est was panting, thighs trembling, when William finally pulled off. His cock was painfully hard, flushed dark, and dripping with William’s spit.
William stood, shrugging off his robe completely. He was hard too, cock flushed and leaking. He fetched the small bottle of oil from the bedside table and returned to Est, straddling his thighs again.
“Watch me,” William ordered softly.
He poured oil over his fingers, then reached behind himself. Est’s eyes darkened with lust as William pressed two slick fingers into his own hole right in front of him. He worked them in and out slowly at first, then added a third, stretching himself open with soft, breathy moans. His cock twitched and leaked steadily onto Est’s stomach as he fingered himself, eyes locked on Est the entire time.
Est’s breathing grew ragged, his thick cock jerking visibly against his stomach. “Willy… please. Let me taste you. Please – “
William kept fingering himself, eyes half-lidded in pleasure. “Beg.”
Est’s voice cracked with raw desperation. “Please, my prince. Let me taste you. I need my tongue inside you. I’ll be good – I won’t use my bad arm. Please.”
William moaned at the words, clearly affected. He rode his own fingers a few more times before finally pulling them out with a wet sound.
“Come here,” he said, voice husky.
Est moved instantly. He slid down the bed and buried his face between William’s spread cheeks with a guttural moan. He ate him out like a man starved – deep, messy, and filthy. His tongue pushed inside the slick hole, licking and fucking into him eagerly, tasting. Wet, obscene slurping sounds filled the room as Est devoured him, sucking on his rim, thrusting his tongue as deep as it would go, then licking broad stripes over his fluttering entrance.
“Fuck. Gods – Est!” William cried out, gripping Est’s hair with one hand while grinding back against his face. “Yes – just like that.”
Est groaned loudly into his behind, the vibrations making William shake. He licked and sucked messily, spit running down his chin, completely lost in the taste and heat of William’s hole. He ate him like he was trying to make up for every single day they’d been apart.
William was trembling, moaning shamelessly. “Enough – I need you inside me now.”
He pushed Est onto his back, straddled his hips again, and lined up the thick, leaking head of Est’s cock against his spit-slick hole. With one desperate roll of his hips, he sank down hard, taking every inch in a single stroke.
Both of them cried out.
“Gods – William,” Est groaned, voice wrecked. “So tight – so fucking hot – “
William didn’t wait. He planted his hands on Est’s chest and started riding him with wild, passionate abandon. He bounced hard and fast, fucking himself on Est’s thick cock with six weeks of pent-up desperation. The wet, filthy slap of skin against skin was loud and rhythmic. William’s cock bounced heavily between them, smearing pre-cum across Est’s abs with every brutal downward thrust.
Est’s good hand gripped William’s hip tightly, helping guide his frantic movements. “That’s it, my love – ride me. Use my cock. Fuck, you feel incredible. So deep – look at you taking every inch like you were made for me.”
William leaned forward, bracing his hands beside Est’s head, and slammed down even harder, angling so Est’s cock dragged perfectly against his prostate on every stroke.
“I missed this,” William gasped brokenly, voice cracking with pleasure. “Missed your thick cock stretching me open. Missed being full of you – fuck, darling – harder!”
Est met him with powerful upward thrusts, fucking up into William with raw passion. The bed creaked violently beneath them. Sweat slicked their bodies. William’s moans turned into sharp, broken cries as Est pounded into him relentlessly.
William came first with a shattered scream, his hole clenching like a vice around Est’s cock as thick ropes of cum painted Est’s chest and stomach. The intense pulsing dragged Est over the edge seconds later.
With a deep, animalistic groan, Est buried himself to the hilt and came hard, flooding William’s insides with pulse after heavy pulse of hot cum. He kept thrusting through it, pushing his release as deep as possible while William shook and whimpered above him.
William collapsed onto Est’s chest, both of them gasping for air, bodies trembling and joined. Est wrapped his good arm around him tightly, pressing desperate kisses to his hair, his temple, his lips.
“Never again,” Est whispered hoarsely against his mouth. “Six weeks is too long. I can’t be without you like that.”
William hummed weakly in agreement, still clenching around Est’s cock, full and leaking.
“Stay inside me a little longer,” he murmured, nuzzling into Est’s neck. “I want to feel you leaking out of me for hours.”
Est stayed buried deep inside him. His thick cock throbbed slowly in the scorching, cum-drenched heat of William’s hole, still pulsing with aftershocks. Thick rivulets of cum leaked out around where they were joined, warm and slippery, trickling down Est’s balls and onto the sheets.
Est wrapped his good arm around William’s back and pressed his lips to the side of his neck, breathing in the heady scent of sweat, sex, and William’s skin. He kissed him there slowly, open-mouthed and reverent, tasting the salt on his flushed flesh. Then he sucked gently, pulling the delicate skin between his lips until William shivered and moaned softly.
“Gods, my prince,” Est whispered against his neck, voice low and adoring. “You feel like heaven around me. So hot… so wet and full of my cum. This perfect hole keeps fluttering like it never wants me to leave.”
William groaned, clenching instinctively around the thick length still stretching him open. Est smiled against his throat and rolled his hips in a slow, lazy grind, stirring his cock deep inside him. The wet, filthy sound of cum being pushed around made William’s breath hitch.
Est kissed lower, trailing his mouth across William’s collarbone until he reached a sensitive nipple. He latched on, sucking slowly and deeply, tongue swirling around the hardened peak while his lips created delicious suction. William arched with a broken moan, the sound vibrating through both of them.
“Est – love… too much…”
Est switched to the other nipple, lavishing it with the same worshipful attention – sucking harder, flicking his tongue rapidly, then grazing it with his teeth. All the while, he kept up those slow, deep rolls of his hips, fucking his cum back into William with every lazy thrust.
“You’re getting hard again for me already,” Est murmured, voice thick with love and lust as he blew cool air over the glistening, swollen nipple. “My beautiful, insatiable prince. Even after I’ve filled you, your body still begs for more of my cock. Look how perfectly you take me.”
William let out a needy whine, hips starting to rock instinctively, riding Est in shallow movements while his hole clenched rhythmically around the thick intrusion.
Est continued worshipping his chest, sucking and licking at William’s nipples until they were red and hypersensitive. The prince’s cock was fully hard again, trapped between their slick stomachs, leaking steadily and smearing pre-cum across Est’s abs with every roll of his hips.
“Please…” William gasped, voice wrecked.
Est looked up at him with dark, reverent eyes. “Ride me, my love. Let me watch you take what you need.”
William sat up, hands braced on Est’s chest, and began to move. He rose slowly, letting Est’s thick cock drag along his sensitive walls until only the head remained inside, then sank back down with a long, shuddering moan. The wet glide of cum-slick flesh was obscene and perfect.
Soon his pace turned desperate. William planted his feet and started bouncing harder, slamming down onto Est’s cock with raw need. The sound of skin slapping wetly against skin filled the room, mixed with the filthy squelch of cum being forced out around Est’s shaft with every downward thrust.
“Fuck – you’re so deep,” William moaned, head falling back, exposing the long line of his throat. “I can feel you in my stomach…darling, so thick, so perfect – “
Est’s good hand gripped William’s hip, helping guide his frantic movements while his eyes devoured the sight. “That’s it, my prince. Ride me harder. Gods, you look breathtaking like this – flushed and glowing, taking every inch of me so beautifully. This hole was made for me. Made to be filled with my cum.”
William rode him with wild abandon, thighs burning, sweat dripping down his chest. His own cock bounced heavily, slapping wetly against Est’s stomach with every brutal drop. Est kept murmuring worshipful praise between groans, telling him how perfect he was, how tight and hot he felt, how much he loved watching him fall apart.
William came first with a shattered cry, his hole spasming violently around Est’s cock as thick ropes of cum painted Est’s chest and abs. The intense squeezing dragged Est over the edge seconds later.
With a deep, guttural moan, Est thrust up hard and came, flooding William with fresh, hot pulses of cum until it overflowed and ran down his thighs in warm, sticky streams.
William collapsed forward onto Est’s chest, both of them gasping, sweaty, and trembling. Est stayed buried deep inside him, arms wrapped around his prince as their heartbeats slowly synced.
He pressed soft kisses to William’s damp temple and whispered against his skin, “I could stay like this forever… buried inside you, full of my love.”
William hummed contentedly, clenching weakly around him, glowing and completely sated.
They fell asleep sometime before dawn.
Est wasn’t entirely sure when.
One moment William had still been in his arms beneath tangled sheets and sea-cooled air, kissing him slowly between whispered confessions and exhausted affection, and the next the room had dissolved into warmth and soft darkness and sleep.
Real sleep.
The first peaceful sleep either of them had managed in weeks.
When Est woke again, pale dawn light had just begun spilling silver-blue across the room.
For several disoriented seconds he stayed still, caught halfway between dreaming and consciousness while the sound of the ocean rolled softly beyond the open balcony doors.
Then he realized the space beside him was cold.
Movement caught at the edge of his vision.
William.
Already out of bed.
The prince stood near the chair beside the fireplace fastening the clasps of his dark coat with sleepy fingers, hair still beautifully ruined from the night before. Dawn light softened the sharp lines of him entirely – bare throat still marked faintly beneath the collar from Est’s mouth, lips swollen slightly from kissing, exhaustion lingering gently around his eyes.
Gods.
The sight alone made something warm ache inside Est’s chest.
William looked up at the quiet shift of blankets.
Their eyes met.
For one small moment neither spoke.
Then Est held out an arm lazily from beneath the sheets.
“Come back here.”
William huffed the faintest tired laugh.
“I have to leave.”
“Mm.” Est’s voice was rough with sleep. “Terrible decision. Ignore it.”
William shook his head, though affection softened visibly across his face as he crossed back toward the bed anyway.
The mattress dipped beneath his weight the moment he sat beside him.
That was apparently enough invitation for Est.
Before William could properly protest, Est wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him bodily backward into the bed again.
William let out a startled laugh as Est buried his face immediately against the warm curve of his neck.
“Est – “
“No.” He pressed a sleepy kiss beneath William’s jaw. “Stay.”
William melted visibly for one dangerous second.
Est felt it happen beneath his hands.
The hesitation.
The wanting.
Gods, he smelled good – sea salt and smoke and William himself lingering warm against the sheets.
Est tightened his hold instinctively and nuzzled closer against his throat.
“We can ignore the kingdom for another hour.”
William laughed softly again, but there was ache threaded through the sound now.
“You know we can’t. You kept saying so last night.”
Est groaned quietly against his skin.
“I hate responsibility.”
“You are literally becoming one of the highest-ranking military commanders in the kingdom.”
“Exactly. I’ve suffered enough.”
That earned another laugh – softer this time.
Real.
William turned slightly in his arms then, fingers brushing gently through Est’s sleep-mussed hair.
The tenderness of it nearly convinced Est to physically barricade the doors and keep him here forever.
“I need to return before the palace wakes properly,” William murmured quietly.
Est shut his eyes harder.
“I know.”
But he didn’t loosen his hold.
Not immediately.
Because dawn made this feel cruel somehow.
The night before had existed outside the world for a few precious hours – just them tangled together beneath candlelight and grief and love.
Morning brought reality back with it.
Princes.
Duty.
Suspicion.
Distance.
William stroked his fingers slowly through Est’s hair again.
“If someone notices I never returned to my chambers…”
Est sighed softly against his throat.
“I know.”
This time the words sounded more resigned.
More tired.
Still, he pressed one last lingering kiss against William’s neck before finally loosening his arms enough to let him pull away.
William sat up slowly beside him.
For a moment he simply looked down at Est lying tangled in rumpled sheets and pale morning light.
Something unbearably soft crossed his face.
Love.
Pure and undisguised.
Est felt his chest tighten immediately at the sight of it.
William leaned down then and kissed him slowly.
Not hungry.
Not desperate.
Just tender enough that it almost hurt.
When he pulled back, his forehead lingered briefly against Est’s.
“Goodbye, love,” he whispered softly.
The word wrapped itself warmly around Est’s heart.
Love.
Not Est.
Not darling.
Love.
Est reached up instinctively, fingers brushing lightly along William’s jaw.
“Goodbye, my prince.”
William smiled faintly at that.
Sad around the edges.
Then he was gone.
The chamber doors closed softly behind him moments later.
And suddenly the enormous room felt far too empty again.
The rest of the day passed in a blur.
Est barely remembered half of it afterward.
The palace had fully returned to celebration mode now that the assassination attempt had been contained and the wedding remained on schedule. Servants flooded the halls from sunrise onward carrying flowers, fabrics, ceremonial dishes, gifts, wine.
Every corridor overflowed with movement.
Music drifted through the palace constantly.
Foreign nobles continued arriving throughout the morning while the western court prepared feverishly for the royal wedding set to take place the next day.
And everywhere Est went now, people stopped him.
Congratulations followed endlessly.
Military commanders sought him out repeatedly to discuss his future appointment. Noblemen clapped him on the shoulder with approving smiles. Young guards looked at him like he’d stepped out of legend itself.
Prince Anen himself greeted him warmly during midday preparations, insisting publicly once again that the kingdom owed him a debt impossible to repay.
Est endured all of it with increasing exhaustion.
Because beneath the praise and admiration and ceremony, his thoughts remained hopelessly elsewhere.
William.
Always William.
Every crowded room became unbearable the moment Est spotted him somewhere across it.
Sometimes beside the Queen speaking politely with diplomats.
Sometimes helping Popeya through wedding preparations.
Sometimes trapped entertaining visiting princesses and noble families while courtiers watched carefully from every direction.
And gods.
Now that Est knew.
Now that he knew one of those princesses had already been quietly presented as a potential future bride –
Every glance hurt differently.
Not because he doubted William.
Never that.
But because reality had finally stepped fully into the room with them.
Still, whenever their eyes met across crowded halls or banquet rooms, the world seemed to narrow painfully around it.
Longing.
Love.
Grief.
All tangled together now too tightly to separate.
At one point late that afternoon, William passed close enough during a corridor procession that his fingers brushed briefly against Est’s wrist beneath the cover of movement and silk sleeves.
Barely a touch.
Still, it burned for hours afterward.
And through all of it – the flowers and music and congratulations and preparations for the royal wedding unfolding around them –
Est could not stop hearing William’s voice from the night before.
I’d marry you in a heartbeat.
Gods.
___
This chapter is definitely a softer one, but let’s be honest, it still hurts a little bit.
William is being more romantic than ever, and really, how can Est not be hopelessly in love?
Are you excited for what’s coming next?
Drop your thoughts and reactions in the comments, don’t forget to vote, and leave your feedback!
Thank you all so much for reading.
Enjoy the chapter!
