For a number of minutes, there was no talking between both King Richard or Mahnu.
They stayed in each other’s embrace until Mahnu was able to stop trembling and sobbing…
Pulling away from her, King Richard moved a piece of her hair out of her face and gently looked at her…Finally coming up with an idea!
Sighing, King Richard asked, "Tell me about King Jeffery."
Mahnu was silent...
The King picked up the bowl of ‘soup’, as he continued, "My grandfather...Was he a good King?"
Finally, her hands were slack by her side, instead of clenching his clothes, and King Richard put the spoon in front of her mouth.
"He wasn't the oldest...Right?"
She looked at the food and then stared at him, still not speaking but finally opening her mouth for the food.
King Richard silently cheered to himself for getting her to eat. Filling the spoon again, he spoke again, “His elder brother was the King but didn't have any children, so my grandfather became the next King."
Even though King Richard had initially wanted Mahnu to talk, King Richard rambled on as he fed her more and more food.
And as he told Mahnu everything that he knew about his late grandfather, Mahnu continued to eat but stayed silent.
Feeling lucky, the King realizes that she had eaten all the food and he chuckled, "Do you remember?"
Picking up the water, he drank some and then took her head gently in his hands and kissed her.
He hadn't expected her to not just take the water but then to continue to kiss him back afterwards. But as she deepened the kiss, he returned it, unable to help himself. He was a man after all!
Being close to his beloved woman was if not the first best thing in the world, it was followed closely after by being the second!
Mahnu’s hands went to his head and her fingers went through Richard’s hair, making him feel like he could be swept away…
King Richard moved one of his hands down to her waist and cuddled her. Bringing her up to a better upright sitting position, he pulled her closer to him. So easily he was taken by this woman in his arms…
When their lips parted, both were breathing heavily but stayed very close, making their hot breath mix together. With this, Mahnu felt the warmth…She felt better being close to Richard, like he was a shield against her mixed emotions…
Again, it was like her hands and body had a life of their own and it was obvious that they desired this man, just like the first time they had been intimate together. Willing to do as her hands and body pleased, she continued to let herself get taken away by this special man.
He kissed her again softly and she continued to kiss him back, while moving a hand inside his robe.
He knew now was not the time to become so intimate, but he couldn't stop her, or himself. Her desire and his desire had already connected, and he felt like she needed to be close to him. That perhaps, he himself would be some kind of medicine for her. To that thought, the King could just happily oblige her and hoped that she will soon be herself once again.
If it stopped her from crying, it was already something that he could happily do…As her crying face hurt him, making him unable to think of his friend at all.
He knew he was hurting, but at the moment Mahnu’s tears wiped this certain worry away for now. He also wanted her to know that he did not blame her for his friend’s death. He did not blame her at all!
…But instead of saying this in words, Richard instead cherished Mahnu’s body, showing her that she was still very important and special to him.
People left the room, quite confused, but when that door was shut, King Richard pulled the desire, hungry Mahnu to be on top of his lap.
When she finally spoke, it was soft and sweet and...It was his name, making him feel happy.
He said her name back to her and put his hands inside her clothes, kissing her body.
As he kissed the light redness around her wrists and where the dagger had drawn blood, Mahnu felt like she was becoming new again, as though he was purifying her. She wished for Richard to continue, to make her forget, to make her think of only one thing and not of anything else besides him.
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…She didn't want to think about how sad she was about Marcus's death. She didn't want to think that she had been forcibly taken away. She didn't want to think about the last week of being lonely or if Richard did truly want her…
She wanted to be filled again, filled so much so that her eyes could take what they see again…So that her heart can handle more.
To continue to live here with her beloved man, she wanted to be stronger!
Making love to Mahnu and getting her cleaned and feed throughout the next day, had made a change to her eyes. Upon seeing them filled with sadness and sorrow, upon finding her the day before, then to seeing them go a bit dull and like they had no light…Over the trip back to Conrella, a few times now, her eyes would sometimes change, to show a faint interest or sparkle.
Since then, King Richard became very attentive and patient and made it his number one priority to try and make her smile.
By the time they made it back to Betty and Donald in Conrella, Mahnu had only spoken two things. One was, 'I'm sorry.' In which was breaking the King's heart, and the other was his name.
Luckily, and surprising King Richard, Mahnu started to smile naturally again when she saw Betty and Donald. Seeing his beloved become a bit clingy to Betty, the King could not do anything about it…Making him sure that Mahnu needed some type of nurturing from the older lady.
The news of Mahnu’s pregnancy was not told straight away, as King Richard wanted Mahnu to feel more at ease first. He wanted Mahnu to be ready, ready to speak of it herself and it wasn’t like it would be bad if they were to delay this news becoming public anyway.
As it was, the King was still trying to find a solution to keep his beloved from entering into the palace and being stuck there, so his child was still going to be a secret for now.
Staying with Betty and Donald for a day, the King was happy to see Mahnu start to be herself once again.
Not everything about Mahnu’s normal personality went back to normal, but her much loved stubbornness came back when he would want to go for a short walk with her, mostly to be alone, and to get her to eat more then she had…
Then, before he left for the palace, Mahnu said something short about King Jeffery. She wasn’t starting a conversation, she also didn’t say anything too specific, it was just something that King Richard had forgotten to say that day and afterwards Mahnu thanked him for being there.
She took the initiative to hug him then and put her head against his chest, saying once again, ‘Thank you.’
He wished he could ask her what happened, but the risks seemed to be too great. She was just starting to smile and talk again, so how could he attempt to ruin that?
No, we’ll be together for a long way to come and it’s only been a couple of days, a few more days can’t hurt.
For now, what happened with Marcus has been left in the air, but the King will change it as he pleases when he knows what Mahnu wants. The only problem was, the body of Marcus had obviously started to decay, even if they kept it as cold as they could, but it was still a secret upon where and kept intact…
Before Marcus's case started to become big news, the King used that time to arrange for the beheading of Sedric and his followers upon returning back to the palace. All this time they had been looked up and interrogated, but now it was time to bring down punishment!
It was then though, that the King found himself at a lose without his good friend and loyal knight.
Marcus would always be by his side and now that he was gone, the King found that he couldn’t remember many other knights’ names. They all felt so unfamiliar, making King Richard miss his friend even more so…
Once he caught himself talking to ‘Marcus’, only to realize he wasn’t there…And…Thinking about replacing him was not something that King Richard could think about right now. The idea of replacing his good friend only brought back the fact of what he himself had done, before Marcus had left Conrella.
For one night, the King did not go to see Mahnu, but went to his own bed chambers alone.
Since he felt upset and even regretful, the King thought it better to give himself some time to feel better and try to sort through his emotions.
Mahnu had enough troubles getting over what had happened, so, with his mind now on Marcus, he did not want to bother her…
Taking that time, to be on his own, a few tears were shed to losing his good friend that had been there for him for most of his life.
At times he wanted to punch something, due to his regret and anger to himself, and then at other times he felt useless and didn’t feel like he was a good person.
After a few hours, the King finally got some sleep…He knew though, that it would take a lot longer then a few days to mourn for his good friend, Marcus…
Mahnu attended the beheading of Sedric, it wasn’t because she contained endless hatred for him…It was for two other reasons.
One reason was that she wanted to be able to become stronger, so the scene of his last breath would be forever remembered by her, so that she couldn’t forget to stay strong and become stronger. Mentally, physically…Emotionally stronger…
She will remember how Sedric and his men had tried to kill her, twice, and that if he hadn’t been involved because of the tablet, Marcus may still have been by Richard’s side.
They wouldn’t have had to go to Bena to collect the tablet and then post so much knights for her safety and have her wait to return back to Conrella. If the King and her had gone to Harval instead, and stayed together, perhaps Marcus and the King may not have fought…
Because…The reason they had fought, was because of her…That she had been in Bena without him and they had not received word…
If she had never been stuck there, or had not done as Jaclyn and William demanded and leave Bena earlier then expected, Marcus may still be alive…
But…Wouldn’t their messages still have been interceded anyway?
Sighing, Mahnu couldn’t help but think that it perhaps didn’t matter if they had left early or not…But then, Mahnu thought that the extra time to take for Marcus to find her in Bena might have cooled his anger a bit more and perhaps he might have had second thoughts…
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she knew…She knew from a long time ago, that time could not change. They can’t go back in time and change something, this was how it was!
But…For the second time, she really wished…Really wished that she could have changed someone else’s fate!
The boy…And now, Marcus…
If only…
Feeling that familiar feeling of regret and feeling useless overcome here, Mahnu attempted to harden her feelings and stop questioning things that shouldn’t be questioned anymore…
Mahnu knew that she had to accept this, this present day, even if it was what she didn’t want.
…She made herself stand there, seeing the lifeless head on the ground, and she, finally, remembered Marcus willingly.