Kingdom of Crowns: Garden of Stones (Part Nine)
Title: Kingdom of Crowns: Garden of Stones
Author name: hunters_retreat
Artist name:
deadflowers5
Fandom: CW RPS
Genre: slash, threesome, m/m/f
Pairing: Jared/Jensen/Danneel
Rating:NC-17
Word count: 50,000+
Warnings/Spoilers: threesomes
Summary: As Jared, Danneel, and Jensen begin to settle into their new roles in the Kandilihar Triune, tragedy happens. Danneel is left to hold the walls in her king's absence but friends aren't always what they seem and no one expects the pregnant Queen Consort to hold the castle against foreign enemies. Danneel isn't called the Fiery Queen for nothing though and in the battle ahead of her, she needs every bit of steel she can find.
With Danneel keeping Kandilihar safe, Jared is plunged further into the murderous plot of his sister as he tries to undo the harm she's done while building new alliances and making new friends. His reunion with his husband is short lived though when Jensen confesses to prophetic visions that are leading him to a place no one would have dared guess; the fabled Crown of Kingdoms. The Jade Crown had once united the Six Lakes Realms under a High King where peace reigned until betrayal destroyed it all. Jensen has to find the crown to bring an end to the deaths and warmongering of Jared's family and to find a way to protect his friends, family, and the husband and wife he has come to love more than life itself.
No matter that Danneel had wanted to get them cleaned up fast, it was well into evening before they were able to leave the court. Jared got himself cleaned up while Jensen was speaking as the High King and then Jensen took his turn, leaving the King and Queen Consort of Kandilihar to work out the issues of the kingdom without him for a few minutes.
When Jensen came back to join them, he was in his own clothes, but a jeweled clasp help a cloak around his shoulders. Kane walked at his side and a moment later Murray came behind them, scanning the room. Abel was already there and Jared noticed the way they watched Jensen constantly.
When Jensen saw him, he smiled and walked straight to him. “Jared, I was beginning to think there was a conspiracy to keep the two of us apart.”
Jared laughed. Since they’d made it to the castle it had been one trouble after another. There was enough work to be done to clear up the castle and the fields but Kane had immediately started talking about taking men to the Garden of Stone and making it habitable. Jensen had been against the idea, but Jared still wasn’t sure why. They hadn’t had a moment alone to find out.
“I would blame Danneel for trying to make us wait for her, but I think it had more to do with your new guards than anything else.”
Jensen rolled his eyes and Jared laughed. “They appointed themselves to the Jade Guard as soon as I sat on the throne. I don’t honestly know how you live like this. Has Kane always been this bad?”
Jared brought a hand up to Jensen’s face and caressed it. He hasn’t planned to touch him but he couldn’t help himself. “He has his moments. I’m afraid you’ll be seeing the worst of him as he tries to get used to you.”
“Don’t get any ideas. I plan on handing him back.”
Jared let out a deep breath and looked over Jensen’s shoulder. “It is well past time that we retired for the evening, Your Majesty.”
“Yes,” Jensen said with a mischievous grin. “I do believe our wife has been making arrangements.”
“Should I be scared?”
Jensen leaned forward and kissed Jared, lingering on his lips as his fingers pressed into Jared’s side. “I believe she was moving us out of the Wedding Suites. Then there was the matter of someone we have still to meet.”
Jared closed his eyes and leaned in to let his forehead rest against Jensen’s. “I can face a thousand men on a battle field, but I am terrified of this. What am I supposed to do with a baby?”
Jensen laughed. “I imagine Danneel will have a better idea than I.”
“True enough,” Jared turned to see Danneel smiling at them. She looked beautiful. She’d managed to get cleaned up some time ago, but Jared had yet to truly appreciate his wife’s company since his return. He knew Jensen felt the same as he did.
“Come, it’s time to show Jensen to our suite.”
Jared watched as Danneel took Jensen’s hand and let her lead him away. He followed close behind, knowing that Murray, Kane, and Abel followed behind them.
They were heading to his bedroom, not the wedding suites. These were the rooms he and Danneel had lived in once they’d been married and Jared couldn’t help but be excited by that prospect. When they reached the room, Danneel kissed them both gently. “I will be right back.” She left before Jared could say anything, but he thought he knew where Danneel was going.
Jared didn’t hesitate, but pushed the door open and pulled Jensen into the room behind him. The door was barely closed before Jensen surged up into him, pressing their lips together. They didn’t have time for what he wanted, he had an idea of why Danneel had left them alone after all, but Jared opened up to his husband. Jensen’s tongue swept against Jared’s bottom lip before sliding between them.
Jared pulled Jensen closer, enjoying the feel of his husband against him. Jensen’s fingers tangled in Jared’s hair and angled him down to the right angle. Jensen moaned and Jared had to pull back to catch his breath.
“Jensen,” he whispered. “I missed you.”
Jensen pressed his lips to Jared’s collar, then rested his head there. “The things I want to do to you right now.”
Jared let out a shaky breath. “Danneel might already have plans for that.”
Jensen laughed. “I imagine she does. I might start without her though if she doesn’t come back soon.”
“Come on,” Jared said, pulling Jensen away from the door. “I imagine Danneel already moved your things in here. She’s been waiting a long time to have you in here.”
He led Jensen past the foyer and the rest of the suite until they were in the bedroom. He wanted to strip his husband of his clothes and show him just how amazing things would be now that they were together again, but even with the desire that coursed through him, exhaustion began to take its toll. He pulled Jensen up onto the bed instead, sitting up against the headboard with Jensen lying between his legs.
Jensen settled against him, sighing. “I missed my bed, but not near as much as I missed this,” he confessed.
“Enjoy the quiet while you can,” Danneel said as she slipped into the room. “He’ll only stay asleep for so long.”
Jensen sat up quickly to move to Jared’s side as Danneel came closer, pulling the blanket away from the top of the bundle in her arms. She settled on the bed beside Jared and he let out a deep breath. He’d faced armies and felt less scared than this. When Danneel put their sleeping son into his arms, he couldn’t help but smile as his son yawned up at him.
“What is his name?’ Jared asked.
“I haven’t named him. I was waiting for you to come home. You do need a name though, don’t you sweetling?” Danneel asked as she leaned closer to him.
Jensen leaned closer on his other side. “You make pretty babies,” Jensen said, pressing a kiss to the boy’s head.
Jared watched Jensen for a moment and he knew what he needed to do. “Alan,” he said softly. “We should name him Alan.”
Jensen stilled but Danneel stroked her fingers over the baby’s face lightly. “Alan is a good name. A strong name for a boy who will someday be a king.”
Jensen’s eyes were watering and he gave a shaky smile, letting Jared know he’d made the right decision. “Alan, meet your other daddy.”
Jared moved his boy slightly so that Jensen could see him better. Danneel settled on the bed at his side and Jared couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her. He was between his husband and wife holding his son. Jared had spent half of his life believing in the old ways and hoping to someday see the High King returned to his throne and now his husband was the man to claim the crown. He felt like his heart was about to burst.
Jensen took Alan from his arms and Jared took the chance to pull Danneel in close. He kissed her gently as Jensen murmured softly to their son. It was the most remarkable night of his life and Jared had never felt more loved, or more cared for then he did just then.
He didn’t know when he’d started to fall asleep but there were whispered words and quiet laughter as he was pulled down onto the bed properly. His wife and husband lay beside him and Jared let his exhaustion pull him under so he could wake to see their smiling faces again in the morning.
**
The High King - and still Prince Consort if he could get people to remember to stop bowing to him - stood looking out over the walls of the castle. He knew he should be returning back to his rooms but even with the late evening settling around him, he couldn’t help but stare at the great pavilions and tents set up outside the castle walls. The Faire had been cancelled the year before when Megan’s armies had come. While he knew the magnitude of the Great Faire, he’d never actually seen it. He could hear the music and laughter even from the high castle walls and it filled him with joy. These were his people, all of them. The crown he wore was so much different from what he’d ever expected, growing up with a Prince’s crown and never expecting more until he’d become a part of the Triune and received that crown as well. Jensen had never wanted to be a king and it was that fact that Jared said made him the perfect High King.
Warm arms wrapped around him and Jensen could feel the smile against his skin, as if thinking his name had conjured him. “Don’t you have guests to see to?” Jensen asked as he leaned to one side, letting his husband’s lips brush across his skin.
“I told them all it was time to seek my bed. The Queen Consort will be up early for the Faire and she waits on no man. Or king. Or husband. It will be an early morning and I need my beauty sleep.”
Jensen laughed, turning around in his husband’s arms. “It’s a good thing that isn’t true because unless I misread your Queen, she has no intention of letting you sleep soon.”
“Then it will be a late night for us all, Your Majesty,” Jared said with a grin.
Jensen smacked him on the arm. “Stop.”
“You don’t like it when I call you by your title? It’s hard to stop after listening to it all day long,” Jared teased.
Jensen groaned, leaning forward to rest his head on his husband’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t give up my position for a simpler life, but every time a new dignitary comes to visit the High King it throws me right back to the beginning with the Kandili Orators. Even Jim was calling me by my title tonight.”
“Then let me try another one,” Jared said softly, tipping Jensen’s head up. “Come to bed, husband.”
Jensen leaned up, pressing his lips to Jared’s for a sweet kiss. “Lead the way, husband.”
Jensen let himself be lead back through the castle that was now his home. The High King had no kingdom of his own to rule and it was only guidance and advice that he offered the other sovereigns so Jensen felt no need to try to move away from his Kandili home. They had plans to celebrate the Shepard’s Moon at the Garden of Stones once the construction of the rooms and the outer village were complete, but Jensen lived in Kandilihar and it was far easier for people to join him there than to travel the Divergence. It had been a hard year, with everyone coming to terms with the High King and the reunion of the Six Lakes Realm leaders and the celebration would be another way to renew their alliances. They had all accepted him immediately, but not many had welcomed what they felt were his intrusions in the beginning. He had a better way of announcing his need to them now though, a way of giving them warning before he called them into his mind and that seemed to have led to better negotiations. News was spread quicker among them now and need was easily dispelled where it could be because of Jensen’s interactions with the other rulers and they were all seeing the benefits of his council.
Jensen still sat as a ruling member of the Triune but his place as High King was a separate duty he attended to. Jensen had a secretary who took care of people coming to see the High King. He only saw a few petitioners a day but Jared had set aside his own audience room for when he needed to wear the Jade Crown. Unfortunately, the Great Faire had brought an unusually high number of people to visit him and he’d had to spend the whole day in what Jared affectionately called the ‘Kandili Jade Hall’. Jensen was mostly happy though, his wife and husband at his side with Jared’s son, healthy, and growing up with their love. His brother was only a thought away, now that Jensen had the Jade Crown and he was able to remain an active part of the Pelagian court in some small manner.
It was a different life than Jensen would ever have dreamed for himself, but one that left him happy and hopeful for an even brighter future for them all.
“You’re late,” Danneel chided as Jensen closed the door behind him.
“Your husband was up on the wall again,” Jared said. To Jensen’s surprise, his husband had worked quickly and was already half naked as he moved to join their wife in their shared bed.
“We’ll have to think of some way to keep him from thinking too much on the fair,” Danneel said softly. “We can’t have his dreams filled with dignitaries and exotic creatures when we are right here.”
Jared took that exact moment to slide his pants down his hips to pile around his feet. Jensen stood where he was, back pressed to the door, as he watched Jared move over Danneel, his lips meeting hers in a passionate kiss.
In all his life, Jensen had never seen two people so in love, so passionate about the other. He watched as Jared’s arm snaked under Danneel’s body as he pulled her down the mattress. When he had her laid out, he pulled the sheet off, revealing her beautiful body. She wore marks of labor on her stomach, small pinkish ribbons that reminded them of the child she’d carried for them. Reminders of future children she would conceive and bear for them.
“You are truly beautiful,” Jensen said softly.
Jared ran a hand down Danneel’s face and kissed her gently. “Yes, she is.”
Jensen meant the two of them but he didn’t bother to correct his husband, especially not as Jared began to kiss Danneel’s graceful neck. She arched up into his body and Jared moved further down, his fingers playing across her nipples before he leaned in, sucking one into his mouth. She moaned at the feeling of it and Jared moaned with her as she wrapped her feet around his calves and pulled his body closer to her.
“Dani,” Jared whispered her name against her skin.
“Make me ready, Love,” she said, digging her fingers into his hair. She guided him down and he was lapping at her clit, his moans louder as he tasted her. Jensen could tell from the way his wife clutched the bedsheets when Jared pressed his finger into her body. Such talented fingers and Jensen nearly fell to his knees with the desire to move closer, to pull Jared’s fingers from her body and lick them clean until he had the taste of both lover’s on his tongue.
“Jensen, why are you still dressed?” Danneel demanded as Jared sat up on the bed, three fingers moving in and out of her body. “If you don’t get over here soon, I swear I’ll let him have me.”
Jensen laughed as he pulled the tunic over his head. “You think I would complain, Wife?” he asked.
Danneel let out a breathy moan as Jared pulled away from her, leaving her empty as he turned to look at Jensen. “You would enjoy the show too much to complain,” Jared said as he moved off the bed to stand in front of Jensen. His fingers undid the fastening of Jensen’s pants and he began working them off his body. “However, I have plans tonight and they involve watching you make love to my wife as I fill your body.”
Jensen moaned because he would never turn down the offer that Jared made him. “You are far too easy to give your wife away,” Jensen teased.
His pants were pooled around his feet as Jared pushed him back towards the bed. “She seems particularly fond of being taken by you,” Jared answered as he stopped to kiss Jensen. Jensen opened to his husband and as their tongues tangled, he felt Danneel’s hands on his back. She kissed across his shoulders and down his spine before returning to the nape of his neck. Jensen was nearly shaking with the intensity of their ministrations so when Jared pulled back and Danneel turned his body, he fell to the bed with her.
Her lips covered his as he felt Jared kneel between his legs. He opened to them both, Danneel’s tongue dancing with his as Jared’s lips traced a path along his inner thigh before licking across the head of his cock. He moaned into Danneel’s mouth, unable to contain himself. When Jared pressed a slick finger against his entrance, Jensen spread his legs wider for his husband in invitation.
It didn’t take long before Jensen was ready to take his lover and Jared pulled him away from Danneel for a moment to kiss him before he pushed Jensen back to the bed with her. When Jensen pushed his way into her body he felt her nails digging into his back, leaving marks that he knew would last a few mornings. She liked to see him marked, perhaps as much as Jared did, and Jensen would complain about marking up the High King when he had to speak to other monarchs in the morning if he didn’t love it as much as his husband and wife did.
“Jared,” Jensen whispered as he settled deep inside Danneel’s body. She pulled his lips to hers again and she swallowed his moans as his husband’s cock slowly sank into his body. He was breathing hard already, always was when they took him like this, and Jensen rolled his hips to hear the matching moans of his lovers.
Jared pulled slowly out of him and Jensen followed only to slam back into Danneel’s body as Jared filled him again. They knew this dance and they set a steady rhythm. Jensen wouldn’t last long like this, but he felt Danneel ‘s body clutching around his as she came. She milked his orgasm from him as she tightened around him and Jared hit his prostate over and over until he was coming inside his wife. Jensen dropped his head down to rest against Danneel’s shoulder and Jared’s fingers bruised into his skin as he began slamming into Jensen’s body. He was shivering with the aftershock and the stimulation until Jared stilled above him and he felt his lover’s hips roll as he filled Jensen full.
When Jared pulled away, Jensen moaned at the loss, his voice echoed by Danneel as he lay back on the bed. Danneel curled up on his one side and Jared pressed kisses into Jensen’s neck.
“Love you, Husband,” Jared said softly.
“Love you Husbands,” Danneel echoed though she was nearly asleep already.
Jensen laughed softly at her soft words. “Crazy Kandili.” When he looked at Jared, his husband’s eyes were wide awake and Jensen moved slowly to dislodge Danneel so that he could roll into his lover’s arms. Jared pulled him close, though as always, Danneel burrowed closer to Jensen in her sleep and Jared played with her hair as his other arm held Jensen close. “Love you,” Jensen finally admitted as he settled against Jared’s chest.
“Sleep well tonight, love. Tomorrow we have the Faire and Danneel will not rest until you’ve seen every stall.”
“It will be a good day then,” Jensen answered.
Jared let out a happy, contented smile that made Jensen melt a little more into him. “Yes, the best of days.”
**
Danneel smiled at her husbands as she wiped her hands over her dress, making sure she hadn’t missed any crumbs. The Great Faire of Kandilihar officially opened today and one of the Pelagian sellers had sent sweet rolls up to Jensen and Jared. Apparently they had met during Jared and Jensen’s courtship and the woman wanted to send a gift. It was well received and Danneel was still smiling over her husband’s reaction to it. Jensen had taken the first bite and seemed to melt with it. Jared, on the other hand, had dropped his to his plate and proceeded to lick the taste of Jensen’s from his lips. If she wasn’t so sated from the night before she might be tempted to join them, but she had plans for the Faire and she refused to miss it this year.
Alan was toddling around and too young to properly enjoy the Faire, but she had plans to take him that afternoon, once Jensen was able to escape his duties as the High King and could share the afternoon with her.
“I will see you both at the noon meal on the east pavilion. The other dignitaries will be there as well, so make sure you are presentable.”
She winked because Joshua was still giving Jensen a hard time about showing himself to the Pelagian King in a slightly rumpled manner a month back. Jensen continued to complain about his brother’s teasing but Jared looked entirely too smug about it all.
She got a series of kisses and quick embraces and three attempts to turn her from her destination before Jensen finally gave up. Jared was laughing, telling their husband that she would return his affection again once the Faire was out and Danneel used the distraction to slip out the door.
She had a bag of coins at her belt and a new rapport with the Torugans that she hoped to test. She heard Ruden was coming as well as Lehne and she hoped to find them among the stalls before the noon meal. She had been in conversation with them for some time and hoped to set matters on this visit. Lehne had a daughter that would soon be old enough to see the world and Danneel was trying to convince the Torugan King to foster her with them. It would be a large step in mending the generations of bad blood between them and Danneel knew well enough that when Alan was old enough, she would trust his safety with Lehne and Ruden. Jensen had begun speaking to the other rulers about it as well. Fostering children with one another would help strengthen the ties that had become so harried over the years. It was gaining popularity and if she could get Lehne’s daughter, Alena, then she was certain the others would follow.
She walked quickly, hoping to catch her brother before he left the stables. His routine never altered and he always went to check on the horses first thing. It was her father’s habit but even as a knight in training Christian had continued doing things as their father had said they should be done.
She walked in, ready to convince her brother to head to the Torugan stalls first when soft voices caught her attention. She slowed when she recognized her brother’s voice and the intention behind it. She wondered how she could have missed his affection for someone, but she knew the tenderness in his voice and what it meant.
She moved quietly to peek around the corner and was surprised to see him talking to Murray. The Pelagian knight was the High King’s protector and Danneel had never doubted the man’s loyalty to her husband. She had no idea what to think of the way Murray looked at her brother though. She stood straight, ready to walk in but a hand caught her around the waist. Jensen shook his head when she looked back at him and she realized then that her husband knew what was happening.
She looked back in time to see her brother leaning closer to Murray. The knight was against the stable door and had nowhere to go, but instead of trying to move away, his hand came up to Christian’s neck and pulled him closer. It was a chaste kiss but Danneel could see the familiarity in the way they moved together. The kiss deepened and Jensen pulled Danneel away quietly.
“They rarely get time for even that,” Jensen said softly. “But I’m afraid I can’t quite walk away this morning to give them more.” He kissed Danneel and took her hand. “Where will you head first, Wife?” he asked rather loudly.
Danneel let him lead her in but her brother and Murray had distanced themselves already. “Chad, we have an appointment if I am not mistaken?” Jensen asked.
The Pelagian knight nodded. “The Lastoran King has prepared a tent for you on the edge of the Southern pavilion.”
Jensen sighed. “Which probably means he’s trying to get me drinking again. If you don’t see me at the noon meal, look for me there, passed out on whatever it is that Sebastian calls a suitable beverage for a king.”
Danneel laughed at the idea of it. Relationships with Lastoran, Ruvien, and Donara had become much better when Jared released the Kandilihar occupation of their countries and returned the thrones where they rightfully belonged. Sebastian had barely been crowned king before Gerald had taken Lastoran over. He was having a very good time deciding what he liked best about being a king versus a prince.
Murray held Jensen’s horse as he mounted, then moved to his own horse. Her brother held it steady for him and Danneel tried not to smirk. She’d been trying to help him find someone for years and he’d gone to Pelagia and found someone all on his own.
Jensen waved as he turned to leave and Danneel was left alone with her brother then. Christian was staring at the stable doors and Danneel went to stand next to him. She bumped his shoulder slightly and he turned to smile at her.
“Must run in the family, the Pelagian thing,” Christian teased.
“You knew I saw?”
“Yep, and I bet you thought you could wait until the best time to bring it up. I knew I had to get it out of the way before you embarrassed me in front of Jared or Jensen.”
“Jensen knows.”
“What?”
“He seems to have known for a while.”
Christian shook his head and Danneel knew it was his way to cover his embarrassment. He’d really thought they’d hidden it from Jensen.
“It doesn’t interfere with what we do. I don’t want Jensen or Jared to think-”
Danneel stopped him by placing her fingers over his lips. “I’ll just say it this once. I love you and I just want you to be happy. If he does, then that’s all that matters. But if he doesn’t, you tell him the Fiery Queen is your sister and I will come for his head.”
Christian’s eye softened as he looked down at her and she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Jensen is happy for you and I’m sure Jared would be too.” She took her fingers from his lips then and smiled. “Now, come on. Torugan stalls first.”
Christian took her hand and hsi smile was back again. “Ready.”
“Set,” she said, giggling like a little girl.
“Go!” Christian yelled. He gripped her hand as he ran out of the stable. Danneel held her skirts up with one hand and ran behind her brother laughing. Fiery Queen or not, she was a stable hand’s daughter and this was how she’d come to the Faire as a child, clutching her brother’s hand and giggling her way through the stalls. It was how she did it still, remembering who she was and spending the first morning of the Faire with her big brother.
**
The pavilion was bigger than ever this year, as was the Faire itself. People seemed to be making up for missing the previous year. Jared was sitting at a table, drinking Ruvien wine that King Lesaren had brought himself. Jared was alone for the moment and he was enjoying the chance to watch the people that had come to join them today.
A large dance floor was open in front of him and a lively dance had started when the sun began to go down. Danneel was being spun around the floor by their husband and he could hear their laughter even when he couldn’t see them through the crowd.
Lesaren and King Daren of Donara were talked animatedly in one corner. At Daren’s side was Samantha, the head of the Donaran academy libraries. Jensen knew her and he’d been thrilled to learn that after Daren’s divorce, he’d begun spending time with Samantha. Lesaren seemed to be enjoying the conversation as Daren and Samantha continued to interrupt one another back and forth.
Not far from them, Captain Sheppard of the Pelagian Navy was drinking with King LaRoche. They had become friends while Sheppard was docked at a Lastoran dock and they’d kept a correspondence since.
Someone clapped him on the shoulder and Jared looked up at Joshua and Lehne joined him at the table. “You Kandili do know how to throw a good party,” Joshua said, raising a wine glass in toast before sipping it.
Jared laughed. “It is the first time in living history that the seven kings have been in one place. It seemed fitting that we should make it an event to remember.”
“If it’s remembered,” Lehne said, pointing to the corner where LeRoche was drinking.
Jared smiled at the comment but turned to look on the dance floor when he heard his husband’s laughter. To his surprise, Jesina was on the dance floor close by with Ruden.
“Is that something Jensen should be worried about?” Jared asked as he pointed to the two.
“Ruden has asked to remain as a permanent part of the Pelagian guard,” Lehne answered.
“And he’s asked my permission to court Jesina,” Joshua added. “When I told her that he had asked, and that I hadn’t given answer yet, she demanded I go out that instant and tell him that he had my permission.” Joshua shook his head. “As far as I can tell, they had very little contact when she was in the castle with Megan but he made quite the impression on her.”
“How is she taking this courtship?”
“About as well as my brother did yours,” Joshua replied with a smile. “Half the time she seems surprised that he wants to be with her and the rest of the time she’s setting loops for him to jump through like a trained beast.”
“It is a good thing he is Torugan then. They are strong of heart and it takes that sort of will to marry a Pelagian,” Jared said.
He didn’t say anything when Joshua began talking next, but gave his attention to the young boy who had just been brought in. Alan was just over a year old but he already had the castle hopping as he wished. Perhaps the two worst culprits were the men who carried him in. Kane had his nephew in his arms and was laughing at the way Alan tried to grab Murray’s nose when he got too close. Murray continued to play the game with him and occasionally let Alan get him just so they could start the game over again.
Jensen wasn’t sure how that had happened, the two knights who had seemed incapable of finding devotion to something besides their kings, but when Danneel had told him about what she’d seen he didn’t find if surprising at all. Jared could remember the determination in Murray’s voice when Jensen had first been kidnapped, his need to make sure both Jensen and Kane returned safely. It could have started back then, but they had certainly had plenty of time when they traveled with Jensen to find something between them. Knowing what Danneel saw, Jared could see it now. Kane didn’t let many people under his guard but their shared purpose had always let Murray get closer than others. Now, Jared figured Kane had let the other knight in a lot further than he had intended. Jared couldn’t help but smile at that thought. His brother-in-law deserved to be happy and Jared liked Murray. The man was dedicated to a fault and it was fitting that two men who were so wrapped up in protecting someone else would find love with one another.
“You are thinking too much, Your Majesty,” Jensen said as he sat at the table next to Jared.
“I am drinking, not thinking, Your Majesty,” Jared said with a grin just as Danneel sat in Jensen’s lap. It was entirely uncivilized and exactly what the Faire always seemed to bring out in his wife. Jared loved her like this and he could see that Jensen did as well.
“Please tell me you don’t go around calling each other majesty all the time,” Joshua teased.
Danneel laughed as she held her hand out to their brother-in-law. “Your Majesty, I believe you still owe me a dance. Just for that comment, I will most certainly step on your toes.”
Joshua laughed as he took Danneel onto the floor and Jensen leaned in closer to him.
“I’m glad I managed to get to the Faire this year,” he said in a voice only Jared could hear.
“I’m glad as well. I have wanted to bring you here since I first saw you among the stalls of your marketplace.” Jared cupped Jensen’s face lightly, just smiling at him. “I walked among the beauty and Pelagian artistry and it was there that I knew that I wanted to take you home with me.”
Jensen lowered his eyes and sighed. “It was there that I knew everything was changing. I didn’t know what I saw in your eyes, but I knew then that you would change the world forever.”
“I hope in a good way.”
Jensen leaned in and kissed him softly. “I am the High King of the Jade Crown. I traveled to the Garden of Stones to win my way into history. I am married to the two most amazing people I have ever met and I am raising a child with them. Someday I will have my own child with you and Danneel and our children will be loved far beyond measure. You have changed my world forever and I can never repay you for that.”
Danneel came back to them then and Joshua brought Jesina with him, Ruden a step behind out of respect to the Kings and Queen. When Jared looked up and caught Kane’s eye from across the room, there was a moment when he knew that his friend understood what he was feeling. Kane’s eyes dipped briefly towards Murray and Jared smiled wider to let his friend know that he approved. Kane held Alan closer and Jared let out a deep sigh.
Danneel took his hand in hers and Jensen was there, leaning in closer, eyes checking on him as he continued to talk to Lehne and Ruden about fostering and traditions shared among the different kingdoms of the Six Lakes Realm.
Jared didn’t know if he had the words to express what he was feeling. As a child he’d dreamed of the High King and becoming a knight of the Jade Crown. His father had tried to clear the fantasy from his head but Jared had always believed in the chivalry of a different time and era. They were divided nations then, seeking to conquer and control and they’d feared helping one another. They were, indeed, a kingdom of crowns and none were interested in being more. That had all changed when Jared had taken the Kandilihar throne though, unknowingly setting off a chain of reactions that would bring them all together again.
The Jade throne sat in the Garden of Stones, once more populated by pilgrims who wanted to see the source of the High King’s power. Each of the kingdoms had sent people to being working to make the Garden of Stones what it had once been; a great throne and audience place to see the High King. Jensen refused to live there, claiming he was happy where he was, but there were talks of celebrating the coming spring at the Garden of Stones. Lehne had mentioned it as a way to renew bonds and Sebastian had said an annual celebration of their unity was a thing not to be missed. Jensen had finally relented when Joshua reminded him that there were other people that wanted a chance to see the Garden of Stones themselves and they wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise.
It had been a long, hard fight, but they were surrounded by friends now. Jared found himself surrounded by love and he was more and more in love each day; with his husband, his wife and his son.
Jensen’s eyes caught Jared’s and his husband gave him a questioning look. Jared had nothing to say but he smiled with a little shrug. Jensen leaned in close, “If I sneak out now, can you follow me in five minutes?”
Jared laughed but he nodded before Jensen continued. “Good. Meet me in our rooms in five minutes. We have much to celebrate tonight and not all of it should be done in public.”
Jensen made an excuse to leave the table then and Jared took his time before he did the same. No one seemed to notice, except his wife who smirked as he left. She wouldn’t be long, he knew, and he stretched his strides to eat up the ground quicker.
He was practically racing by the time he reached his rooms and found a trail of Jensen’s clothing leading him to the bedroom.
Jensen smiled at him as Jared came into the room. “It is a good night, Husband,” Jensen said softly. “I thought it would be a better night to spend together.”
Jared crawled up the bed and pressed his lips to Jensen’s. It was intoxicating, kissing him like this and Jared wondered how he had ever lived without this amazing man in his life. He had vowed to himself to make up for every pain he had ever caused him and to show him just how much he was loved.
“The good things, my Love,” Jared said between kisses, “they are just beginning.”
Author name: hunters_retreat
Artist name:
deadflowers5
Fandom: CW RPS
Genre: slash, threesome, m/m/f
Pairing: Jared/Jensen/Danneel
Rating:NC-17
Word count: 50,000+
Warnings/Spoilers: threesomes
Summary: As Jared, Danneel, and Jensen begin to settle into their new roles in the Kandilihar Triune, tragedy happens. Danneel is left to hold the walls in her king's absence but friends aren't always what they seem and no one expects the pregnant Queen Consort to hold the castle against foreign enemies. Danneel isn't called the Fiery Queen for nothing though and in the battle ahead of her, she needs every bit of steel she can find.
With Danneel keeping Kandilihar safe, Jared is plunged further into the murderous plot of his sister as he tries to undo the harm she's done while building new alliances and making new friends. His reunion with his husband is short lived though when Jensen confesses to prophetic visions that are leading him to a place no one would have dared guess; the fabled Crown of Kingdoms. The Jade Crown had once united the Six Lakes Realms under a High King where peace reigned until betrayal destroyed it all. Jensen has to find the crown to bring an end to the deaths and warmongering of Jared's family and to find a way to protect his friends, family, and the husband and wife he has come to love more than life itself.
No matter that Danneel had wanted to get them cleaned up fast, it was well into evening before they were able to leave the court. Jared got himself cleaned up while Jensen was speaking as the High King and then Jensen took his turn, leaving the King and Queen Consort of Kandilihar to work out the issues of the kingdom without him for a few minutes.
When Jensen came back to join them, he was in his own clothes, but a jeweled clasp help a cloak around his shoulders. Kane walked at his side and a moment later Murray came behind them, scanning the room. Abel was already there and Jared noticed the way they watched Jensen constantly.
When Jensen saw him, he smiled and walked straight to him. “Jared, I was beginning to think there was a conspiracy to keep the two of us apart.”
Jared laughed. Since they’d made it to the castle it had been one trouble after another. There was enough work to be done to clear up the castle and the fields but Kane had immediately started talking about taking men to the Garden of Stone and making it habitable. Jensen had been against the idea, but Jared still wasn’t sure why. They hadn’t had a moment alone to find out.
“I would blame Danneel for trying to make us wait for her, but I think it had more to do with your new guards than anything else.”
Jensen rolled his eyes and Jared laughed. “They appointed themselves to the Jade Guard as soon as I sat on the throne. I don’t honestly know how you live like this. Has Kane always been this bad?”
Jared brought a hand up to Jensen’s face and caressed it. He hasn’t planned to touch him but he couldn’t help himself. “He has his moments. I’m afraid you’ll be seeing the worst of him as he tries to get used to you.”
“Don’t get any ideas. I plan on handing him back.”
Jared let out a deep breath and looked over Jensen’s shoulder. “It is well past time that we retired for the evening, Your Majesty.”
“Yes,” Jensen said with a mischievous grin. “I do believe our wife has been making arrangements.”
“Should I be scared?”
Jensen leaned forward and kissed Jared, lingering on his lips as his fingers pressed into Jared’s side. “I believe she was moving us out of the Wedding Suites. Then there was the matter of someone we have still to meet.”
Jared closed his eyes and leaned in to let his forehead rest against Jensen’s. “I can face a thousand men on a battle field, but I am terrified of this. What am I supposed to do with a baby?”
Jensen laughed. “I imagine Danneel will have a better idea than I.”
“True enough,” Jared turned to see Danneel smiling at them. She looked beautiful. She’d managed to get cleaned up some time ago, but Jared had yet to truly appreciate his wife’s company since his return. He knew Jensen felt the same as he did.
“Come, it’s time to show Jensen to our suite.”
Jared watched as Danneel took Jensen’s hand and let her lead him away. He followed close behind, knowing that Murray, Kane, and Abel followed behind them.
They were heading to his bedroom, not the wedding suites. These were the rooms he and Danneel had lived in once they’d been married and Jared couldn’t help but be excited by that prospect. When they reached the room, Danneel kissed them both gently. “I will be right back.” She left before Jared could say anything, but he thought he knew where Danneel was going.
Jared didn’t hesitate, but pushed the door open and pulled Jensen into the room behind him. The door was barely closed before Jensen surged up into him, pressing their lips together. They didn’t have time for what he wanted, he had an idea of why Danneel had left them alone after all, but Jared opened up to his husband. Jensen’s tongue swept against Jared’s bottom lip before sliding between them.
Jared pulled Jensen closer, enjoying the feel of his husband against him. Jensen’s fingers tangled in Jared’s hair and angled him down to the right angle. Jensen moaned and Jared had to pull back to catch his breath.
“Jensen,” he whispered. “I missed you.”
Jensen pressed his lips to Jared’s collar, then rested his head there. “The things I want to do to you right now.”
Jared let out a shaky breath. “Danneel might already have plans for that.”
Jensen laughed. “I imagine she does. I might start without her though if she doesn’t come back soon.”
“Come on,” Jared said, pulling Jensen away from the door. “I imagine Danneel already moved your things in here. She’s been waiting a long time to have you in here.”
He led Jensen past the foyer and the rest of the suite until they were in the bedroom. He wanted to strip his husband of his clothes and show him just how amazing things would be now that they were together again, but even with the desire that coursed through him, exhaustion began to take its toll. He pulled Jensen up onto the bed instead, sitting up against the headboard with Jensen lying between his legs.
Jensen settled against him, sighing. “I missed my bed, but not near as much as I missed this,” he confessed.
“Enjoy the quiet while you can,” Danneel said as she slipped into the room. “He’ll only stay asleep for so long.”
Jensen sat up quickly to move to Jared’s side as Danneel came closer, pulling the blanket away from the top of the bundle in her arms. She settled on the bed beside Jared and he let out a deep breath. He’d faced armies and felt less scared than this. When Danneel put their sleeping son into his arms, he couldn’t help but smile as his son yawned up at him.
“What is his name?’ Jared asked.
“I haven’t named him. I was waiting for you to come home. You do need a name though, don’t you sweetling?” Danneel asked as she leaned closer to him.
Jensen leaned closer on his other side. “You make pretty babies,” Jensen said, pressing a kiss to the boy’s head.
Jared watched Jensen for a moment and he knew what he needed to do. “Alan,” he said softly. “We should name him Alan.”
Jensen stilled but Danneel stroked her fingers over the baby’s face lightly. “Alan is a good name. A strong name for a boy who will someday be a king.”
Jensen’s eyes were watering and he gave a shaky smile, letting Jared know he’d made the right decision. “Alan, meet your other daddy.”
Jared moved his boy slightly so that Jensen could see him better. Danneel settled on the bed at his side and Jared couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her. He was between his husband and wife holding his son. Jared had spent half of his life believing in the old ways and hoping to someday see the High King returned to his throne and now his husband was the man to claim the crown. He felt like his heart was about to burst.
Jensen took Alan from his arms and Jared took the chance to pull Danneel in close. He kissed her gently as Jensen murmured softly to their son. It was the most remarkable night of his life and Jared had never felt more loved, or more cared for then he did just then.
He didn’t know when he’d started to fall asleep but there were whispered words and quiet laughter as he was pulled down onto the bed properly. His wife and husband lay beside him and Jared let his exhaustion pull him under so he could wake to see their smiling faces again in the morning.
**
The High King - and still Prince Consort if he could get people to remember to stop bowing to him - stood looking out over the walls of the castle. He knew he should be returning back to his rooms but even with the late evening settling around him, he couldn’t help but stare at the great pavilions and tents set up outside the castle walls. The Faire had been cancelled the year before when Megan’s armies had come. While he knew the magnitude of the Great Faire, he’d never actually seen it. He could hear the music and laughter even from the high castle walls and it filled him with joy. These were his people, all of them. The crown he wore was so much different from what he’d ever expected, growing up with a Prince’s crown and never expecting more until he’d become a part of the Triune and received that crown as well. Jensen had never wanted to be a king and it was that fact that Jared said made him the perfect High King.
Warm arms wrapped around him and Jensen could feel the smile against his skin, as if thinking his name had conjured him. “Don’t you have guests to see to?” Jensen asked as he leaned to one side, letting his husband’s lips brush across his skin.
“I told them all it was time to seek my bed. The Queen Consort will be up early for the Faire and she waits on no man. Or king. Or husband. It will be an early morning and I need my beauty sleep.”
Jensen laughed, turning around in his husband’s arms. “It’s a good thing that isn’t true because unless I misread your Queen, she has no intention of letting you sleep soon.”
“Then it will be a late night for us all, Your Majesty,” Jared said with a grin.
Jensen smacked him on the arm. “Stop.”
“You don’t like it when I call you by your title? It’s hard to stop after listening to it all day long,” Jared teased.
Jensen groaned, leaning forward to rest his head on his husband’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t give up my position for a simpler life, but every time a new dignitary comes to visit the High King it throws me right back to the beginning with the Kandili Orators. Even Jim was calling me by my title tonight.”
“Then let me try another one,” Jared said softly, tipping Jensen’s head up. “Come to bed, husband.”
Jensen leaned up, pressing his lips to Jared’s for a sweet kiss. “Lead the way, husband.”
Jensen let himself be lead back through the castle that was now his home. The High King had no kingdom of his own to rule and it was only guidance and advice that he offered the other sovereigns so Jensen felt no need to try to move away from his Kandili home. They had plans to celebrate the Shepard’s Moon at the Garden of Stones once the construction of the rooms and the outer village were complete, but Jensen lived in Kandilihar and it was far easier for people to join him there than to travel the Divergence. It had been a hard year, with everyone coming to terms with the High King and the reunion of the Six Lakes Realm leaders and the celebration would be another way to renew their alliances. They had all accepted him immediately, but not many had welcomed what they felt were his intrusions in the beginning. He had a better way of announcing his need to them now though, a way of giving them warning before he called them into his mind and that seemed to have led to better negotiations. News was spread quicker among them now and need was easily dispelled where it could be because of Jensen’s interactions with the other rulers and they were all seeing the benefits of his council.
Jensen still sat as a ruling member of the Triune but his place as High King was a separate duty he attended to. Jensen had a secretary who took care of people coming to see the High King. He only saw a few petitioners a day but Jared had set aside his own audience room for when he needed to wear the Jade Crown. Unfortunately, the Great Faire had brought an unusually high number of people to visit him and he’d had to spend the whole day in what Jared affectionately called the ‘Kandili Jade Hall’. Jensen was mostly happy though, his wife and husband at his side with Jared’s son, healthy, and growing up with their love. His brother was only a thought away, now that Jensen had the Jade Crown and he was able to remain an active part of the Pelagian court in some small manner.
It was a different life than Jensen would ever have dreamed for himself, but one that left him happy and hopeful for an even brighter future for them all.
“You’re late,” Danneel chided as Jensen closed the door behind him.
“Your husband was up on the wall again,” Jared said. To Jensen’s surprise, his husband had worked quickly and was already half naked as he moved to join their wife in their shared bed.
“We’ll have to think of some way to keep him from thinking too much on the fair,” Danneel said softly. “We can’t have his dreams filled with dignitaries and exotic creatures when we are right here.”
Jared took that exact moment to slide his pants down his hips to pile around his feet. Jensen stood where he was, back pressed to the door, as he watched Jared move over Danneel, his lips meeting hers in a passionate kiss.
In all his life, Jensen had never seen two people so in love, so passionate about the other. He watched as Jared’s arm snaked under Danneel’s body as he pulled her down the mattress. When he had her laid out, he pulled the sheet off, revealing her beautiful body. She wore marks of labor on her stomach, small pinkish ribbons that reminded them of the child she’d carried for them. Reminders of future children she would conceive and bear for them.
“You are truly beautiful,” Jensen said softly.
Jared ran a hand down Danneel’s face and kissed her gently. “Yes, she is.”
Jensen meant the two of them but he didn’t bother to correct his husband, especially not as Jared began to kiss Danneel’s graceful neck. She arched up into his body and Jared moved further down, his fingers playing across her nipples before he leaned in, sucking one into his mouth. She moaned at the feeling of it and Jared moaned with her as she wrapped her feet around his calves and pulled his body closer to her.
“Dani,” Jared whispered her name against her skin.
“Make me ready, Love,” she said, digging her fingers into his hair. She guided him down and he was lapping at her clit, his moans louder as he tasted her. Jensen could tell from the way his wife clutched the bedsheets when Jared pressed his finger into her body. Such talented fingers and Jensen nearly fell to his knees with the desire to move closer, to pull Jared’s fingers from her body and lick them clean until he had the taste of both lover’s on his tongue.
“Jensen, why are you still dressed?” Danneel demanded as Jared sat up on the bed, three fingers moving in and out of her body. “If you don’t get over here soon, I swear I’ll let him have me.”
Jensen laughed as he pulled the tunic over his head. “You think I would complain, Wife?” he asked.
Danneel let out a breathy moan as Jared pulled away from her, leaving her empty as he turned to look at Jensen. “You would enjoy the show too much to complain,” Jared said as he moved off the bed to stand in front of Jensen. His fingers undid the fastening of Jensen’s pants and he began working them off his body. “However, I have plans tonight and they involve watching you make love to my wife as I fill your body.”
Jensen moaned because he would never turn down the offer that Jared made him. “You are far too easy to give your wife away,” Jensen teased.
His pants were pooled around his feet as Jared pushed him back towards the bed. “She seems particularly fond of being taken by you,” Jared answered as he stopped to kiss Jensen. Jensen opened to his husband and as their tongues tangled, he felt Danneel’s hands on his back. She kissed across his shoulders and down his spine before returning to the nape of his neck. Jensen was nearly shaking with the intensity of their ministrations so when Jared pulled back and Danneel turned his body, he fell to the bed with her.
Her lips covered his as he felt Jared kneel between his legs. He opened to them both, Danneel’s tongue dancing with his as Jared’s lips traced a path along his inner thigh before licking across the head of his cock. He moaned into Danneel’s mouth, unable to contain himself. When Jared pressed a slick finger against his entrance, Jensen spread his legs wider for his husband in invitation.
It didn’t take long before Jensen was ready to take his lover and Jared pulled him away from Danneel for a moment to kiss him before he pushed Jensen back to the bed with her. When Jensen pushed his way into her body he felt her nails digging into his back, leaving marks that he knew would last a few mornings. She liked to see him marked, perhaps as much as Jared did, and Jensen would complain about marking up the High King when he had to speak to other monarchs in the morning if he didn’t love it as much as his husband and wife did.
“Jared,” Jensen whispered as he settled deep inside Danneel’s body. She pulled his lips to hers again and she swallowed his moans as his husband’s cock slowly sank into his body. He was breathing hard already, always was when they took him like this, and Jensen rolled his hips to hear the matching moans of his lovers.
Jared pulled slowly out of him and Jensen followed only to slam back into Danneel’s body as Jared filled him again. They knew this dance and they set a steady rhythm. Jensen wouldn’t last long like this, but he felt Danneel ‘s body clutching around his as she came. She milked his orgasm from him as she tightened around him and Jared hit his prostate over and over until he was coming inside his wife. Jensen dropped his head down to rest against Danneel’s shoulder and Jared’s fingers bruised into his skin as he began slamming into Jensen’s body. He was shivering with the aftershock and the stimulation until Jared stilled above him and he felt his lover’s hips roll as he filled Jensen full.
When Jared pulled away, Jensen moaned at the loss, his voice echoed by Danneel as he lay back on the bed. Danneel curled up on his one side and Jared pressed kisses into Jensen’s neck.
“Love you, Husband,” Jared said softly.
“Love you Husbands,” Danneel echoed though she was nearly asleep already.
Jensen laughed softly at her soft words. “Crazy Kandili.” When he looked at Jared, his husband’s eyes were wide awake and Jensen moved slowly to dislodge Danneel so that he could roll into his lover’s arms. Jared pulled him close, though as always, Danneel burrowed closer to Jensen in her sleep and Jared played with her hair as his other arm held Jensen close. “Love you,” Jensen finally admitted as he settled against Jared’s chest.
“Sleep well tonight, love. Tomorrow we have the Faire and Danneel will not rest until you’ve seen every stall.”
“It will be a good day then,” Jensen answered.
Jared let out a happy, contented smile that made Jensen melt a little more into him. “Yes, the best of days.”
**
Danneel smiled at her husbands as she wiped her hands over her dress, making sure she hadn’t missed any crumbs. The Great Faire of Kandilihar officially opened today and one of the Pelagian sellers had sent sweet rolls up to Jensen and Jared. Apparently they had met during Jared and Jensen’s courtship and the woman wanted to send a gift. It was well received and Danneel was still smiling over her husband’s reaction to it. Jensen had taken the first bite and seemed to melt with it. Jared, on the other hand, had dropped his to his plate and proceeded to lick the taste of Jensen’s from his lips. If she wasn’t so sated from the night before she might be tempted to join them, but she had plans for the Faire and she refused to miss it this year.
Alan was toddling around and too young to properly enjoy the Faire, but she had plans to take him that afternoon, once Jensen was able to escape his duties as the High King and could share the afternoon with her.
“I will see you both at the noon meal on the east pavilion. The other dignitaries will be there as well, so make sure you are presentable.”
She winked because Joshua was still giving Jensen a hard time about showing himself to the Pelagian King in a slightly rumpled manner a month back. Jensen continued to complain about his brother’s teasing but Jared looked entirely too smug about it all.
She got a series of kisses and quick embraces and three attempts to turn her from her destination before Jensen finally gave up. Jared was laughing, telling their husband that she would return his affection again once the Faire was out and Danneel used the distraction to slip out the door.
She had a bag of coins at her belt and a new rapport with the Torugans that she hoped to test. She heard Ruden was coming as well as Lehne and she hoped to find them among the stalls before the noon meal. She had been in conversation with them for some time and hoped to set matters on this visit. Lehne had a daughter that would soon be old enough to see the world and Danneel was trying to convince the Torugan King to foster her with them. It would be a large step in mending the generations of bad blood between them and Danneel knew well enough that when Alan was old enough, she would trust his safety with Lehne and Ruden. Jensen had begun speaking to the other rulers about it as well. Fostering children with one another would help strengthen the ties that had become so harried over the years. It was gaining popularity and if she could get Lehne’s daughter, Alena, then she was certain the others would follow.
She walked quickly, hoping to catch her brother before he left the stables. His routine never altered and he always went to check on the horses first thing. It was her father’s habit but even as a knight in training Christian had continued doing things as their father had said they should be done.
She walked in, ready to convince her brother to head to the Torugan stalls first when soft voices caught her attention. She slowed when she recognized her brother’s voice and the intention behind it. She wondered how she could have missed his affection for someone, but she knew the tenderness in his voice and what it meant.
She moved quietly to peek around the corner and was surprised to see him talking to Murray. The Pelagian knight was the High King’s protector and Danneel had never doubted the man’s loyalty to her husband. She had no idea what to think of the way Murray looked at her brother though. She stood straight, ready to walk in but a hand caught her around the waist. Jensen shook his head when she looked back at him and she realized then that her husband knew what was happening.
She looked back in time to see her brother leaning closer to Murray. The knight was against the stable door and had nowhere to go, but instead of trying to move away, his hand came up to Christian’s neck and pulled him closer. It was a chaste kiss but Danneel could see the familiarity in the way they moved together. The kiss deepened and Jensen pulled Danneel away quietly.
“They rarely get time for even that,” Jensen said softly. “But I’m afraid I can’t quite walk away this morning to give them more.” He kissed Danneel and took her hand. “Where will you head first, Wife?” he asked rather loudly.
Danneel let him lead her in but her brother and Murray had distanced themselves already. “Chad, we have an appointment if I am not mistaken?” Jensen asked.
The Pelagian knight nodded. “The Lastoran King has prepared a tent for you on the edge of the Southern pavilion.”
Jensen sighed. “Which probably means he’s trying to get me drinking again. If you don’t see me at the noon meal, look for me there, passed out on whatever it is that Sebastian calls a suitable beverage for a king.”
Danneel laughed at the idea of it. Relationships with Lastoran, Ruvien, and Donara had become much better when Jared released the Kandilihar occupation of their countries and returned the thrones where they rightfully belonged. Sebastian had barely been crowned king before Gerald had taken Lastoran over. He was having a very good time deciding what he liked best about being a king versus a prince.
Murray held Jensen’s horse as he mounted, then moved to his own horse. Her brother held it steady for him and Danneel tried not to smirk. She’d been trying to help him find someone for years and he’d gone to Pelagia and found someone all on his own.
Jensen waved as he turned to leave and Danneel was left alone with her brother then. Christian was staring at the stable doors and Danneel went to stand next to him. She bumped his shoulder slightly and he turned to smile at her.
“Must run in the family, the Pelagian thing,” Christian teased.
“You knew I saw?”
“Yep, and I bet you thought you could wait until the best time to bring it up. I knew I had to get it out of the way before you embarrassed me in front of Jared or Jensen.”
“Jensen knows.”
“What?”
“He seems to have known for a while.”
Christian shook his head and Danneel knew it was his way to cover his embarrassment. He’d really thought they’d hidden it from Jensen.
“It doesn’t interfere with what we do. I don’t want Jensen or Jared to think-”
Danneel stopped him by placing her fingers over his lips. “I’ll just say it this once. I love you and I just want you to be happy. If he does, then that’s all that matters. But if he doesn’t, you tell him the Fiery Queen is your sister and I will come for his head.”
Christian’s eye softened as he looked down at her and she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Jensen is happy for you and I’m sure Jared would be too.” She took her fingers from his lips then and smiled. “Now, come on. Torugan stalls first.”
Christian took her hand and hsi smile was back again. “Ready.”
“Set,” she said, giggling like a little girl.
“Go!” Christian yelled. He gripped her hand as he ran out of the stable. Danneel held her skirts up with one hand and ran behind her brother laughing. Fiery Queen or not, she was a stable hand’s daughter and this was how she’d come to the Faire as a child, clutching her brother’s hand and giggling her way through the stalls. It was how she did it still, remembering who she was and spending the first morning of the Faire with her big brother.
**
The pavilion was bigger than ever this year, as was the Faire itself. People seemed to be making up for missing the previous year. Jared was sitting at a table, drinking Ruvien wine that King Lesaren had brought himself. Jared was alone for the moment and he was enjoying the chance to watch the people that had come to join them today.
A large dance floor was open in front of him and a lively dance had started when the sun began to go down. Danneel was being spun around the floor by their husband and he could hear their laughter even when he couldn’t see them through the crowd.
Lesaren and King Daren of Donara were talked animatedly in one corner. At Daren’s side was Samantha, the head of the Donaran academy libraries. Jensen knew her and he’d been thrilled to learn that after Daren’s divorce, he’d begun spending time with Samantha. Lesaren seemed to be enjoying the conversation as Daren and Samantha continued to interrupt one another back and forth.
Not far from them, Captain Sheppard of the Pelagian Navy was drinking with King LaRoche. They had become friends while Sheppard was docked at a Lastoran dock and they’d kept a correspondence since.
Someone clapped him on the shoulder and Jared looked up at Joshua and Lehne joined him at the table. “You Kandili do know how to throw a good party,” Joshua said, raising a wine glass in toast before sipping it.
Jared laughed. “It is the first time in living history that the seven kings have been in one place. It seemed fitting that we should make it an event to remember.”
“If it’s remembered,” Lehne said, pointing to the corner where LeRoche was drinking.
Jared smiled at the comment but turned to look on the dance floor when he heard his husband’s laughter. To his surprise, Jesina was on the dance floor close by with Ruden.
“Is that something Jensen should be worried about?” Jared asked as he pointed to the two.
“Ruden has asked to remain as a permanent part of the Pelagian guard,” Lehne answered.
“And he’s asked my permission to court Jesina,” Joshua added. “When I told her that he had asked, and that I hadn’t given answer yet, she demanded I go out that instant and tell him that he had my permission.” Joshua shook his head. “As far as I can tell, they had very little contact when she was in the castle with Megan but he made quite the impression on her.”
“How is she taking this courtship?”
“About as well as my brother did yours,” Joshua replied with a smile. “Half the time she seems surprised that he wants to be with her and the rest of the time she’s setting loops for him to jump through like a trained beast.”
“It is a good thing he is Torugan then. They are strong of heart and it takes that sort of will to marry a Pelagian,” Jared said.
He didn’t say anything when Joshua began talking next, but gave his attention to the young boy who had just been brought in. Alan was just over a year old but he already had the castle hopping as he wished. Perhaps the two worst culprits were the men who carried him in. Kane had his nephew in his arms and was laughing at the way Alan tried to grab Murray’s nose when he got too close. Murray continued to play the game with him and occasionally let Alan get him just so they could start the game over again.
Jensen wasn’t sure how that had happened, the two knights who had seemed incapable of finding devotion to something besides their kings, but when Danneel had told him about what she’d seen he didn’t find if surprising at all. Jared could remember the determination in Murray’s voice when Jensen had first been kidnapped, his need to make sure both Jensen and Kane returned safely. It could have started back then, but they had certainly had plenty of time when they traveled with Jensen to find something between them. Knowing what Danneel saw, Jared could see it now. Kane didn’t let many people under his guard but their shared purpose had always let Murray get closer than others. Now, Jared figured Kane had let the other knight in a lot further than he had intended. Jared couldn’t help but smile at that thought. His brother-in-law deserved to be happy and Jared liked Murray. The man was dedicated to a fault and it was fitting that two men who were so wrapped up in protecting someone else would find love with one another.
“You are thinking too much, Your Majesty,” Jensen said as he sat at the table next to Jared.
“I am drinking, not thinking, Your Majesty,” Jared said with a grin just as Danneel sat in Jensen’s lap. It was entirely uncivilized and exactly what the Faire always seemed to bring out in his wife. Jared loved her like this and he could see that Jensen did as well.
“Please tell me you don’t go around calling each other majesty all the time,” Joshua teased.
Danneel laughed as she held her hand out to their brother-in-law. “Your Majesty, I believe you still owe me a dance. Just for that comment, I will most certainly step on your toes.”
Joshua laughed as he took Danneel onto the floor and Jensen leaned in closer to him.
“I’m glad I managed to get to the Faire this year,” he said in a voice only Jared could hear.
“I’m glad as well. I have wanted to bring you here since I first saw you among the stalls of your marketplace.” Jared cupped Jensen’s face lightly, just smiling at him. “I walked among the beauty and Pelagian artistry and it was there that I knew that I wanted to take you home with me.”
Jensen lowered his eyes and sighed. “It was there that I knew everything was changing. I didn’t know what I saw in your eyes, but I knew then that you would change the world forever.”
“I hope in a good way.”
Jensen leaned in and kissed him softly. “I am the High King of the Jade Crown. I traveled to the Garden of Stones to win my way into history. I am married to the two most amazing people I have ever met and I am raising a child with them. Someday I will have my own child with you and Danneel and our children will be loved far beyond measure. You have changed my world forever and I can never repay you for that.”
Danneel came back to them then and Joshua brought Jesina with him, Ruden a step behind out of respect to the Kings and Queen. When Jared looked up and caught Kane’s eye from across the room, there was a moment when he knew that his friend understood what he was feeling. Kane’s eyes dipped briefly towards Murray and Jared smiled wider to let his friend know that he approved. Kane held Alan closer and Jared let out a deep sigh.
Danneel took his hand in hers and Jensen was there, leaning in closer, eyes checking on him as he continued to talk to Lehne and Ruden about fostering and traditions shared among the different kingdoms of the Six Lakes Realm.
Jared didn’t know if he had the words to express what he was feeling. As a child he’d dreamed of the High King and becoming a knight of the Jade Crown. His father had tried to clear the fantasy from his head but Jared had always believed in the chivalry of a different time and era. They were divided nations then, seeking to conquer and control and they’d feared helping one another. They were, indeed, a kingdom of crowns and none were interested in being more. That had all changed when Jared had taken the Kandilihar throne though, unknowingly setting off a chain of reactions that would bring them all together again.
The Jade throne sat in the Garden of Stones, once more populated by pilgrims who wanted to see the source of the High King’s power. Each of the kingdoms had sent people to being working to make the Garden of Stones what it had once been; a great throne and audience place to see the High King. Jensen refused to live there, claiming he was happy where he was, but there were talks of celebrating the coming spring at the Garden of Stones. Lehne had mentioned it as a way to renew bonds and Sebastian had said an annual celebration of their unity was a thing not to be missed. Jensen had finally relented when Joshua reminded him that there were other people that wanted a chance to see the Garden of Stones themselves and they wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise.
It had been a long, hard fight, but they were surrounded by friends now. Jared found himself surrounded by love and he was more and more in love each day; with his husband, his wife and his son.
Jensen’s eyes caught Jared’s and his husband gave him a questioning look. Jared had nothing to say but he smiled with a little shrug. Jensen leaned in close, “If I sneak out now, can you follow me in five minutes?”
Jared laughed but he nodded before Jensen continued. “Good. Meet me in our rooms in five minutes. We have much to celebrate tonight and not all of it should be done in public.”
Jensen made an excuse to leave the table then and Jared took his time before he did the same. No one seemed to notice, except his wife who smirked as he left. She wouldn’t be long, he knew, and he stretched his strides to eat up the ground quicker.
He was practically racing by the time he reached his rooms and found a trail of Jensen’s clothing leading him to the bedroom.
Jensen smiled at him as Jared came into the room. “It is a good night, Husband,” Jensen said softly. “I thought it would be a better night to spend together.”
Jared crawled up the bed and pressed his lips to Jensen’s. It was intoxicating, kissing him like this and Jared wondered how he had ever lived without this amazing man in his life. He had vowed to himself to make up for every pain he had ever caused him and to show him just how much he was loved.
“The good things, my Love,” Jared said between kisses, “they are just beginning.”