It all started with Freya calling him to her chambers for a private discussion. That right there should have set Klaus off as to what was going on and what she was going to ask him, or at least an idea of what was going on. But it did not and now here he is, standing before his queen with a shocked expression on his face due to her words.
"It is widely known that I have yet to conceive a child for the king, much less an heir for him. It does not matter what I try, medicines, concoctions, wives tales, none of them help me conceive a child, but I believe you might be able to. Please, I must give the king an heir or he will have my head and marry another."
If he were to be honest, he valued her life, and not just because it was his job to do so.
"Everyone has always said you and the king look alike, nobody will know if it is not the king's child. The child will have a good life, he or she will not be cast aside as a bastard, but accepted. Please, I need your help."
Her words cut into him; slice his chest right open in front of her. A child. She wishes for him to give her a child and for it to be taken from him. His heart tells him to say no; tells him that this will only end in heartache for him due to the feelings he has held toward the queen for many years now. He is torn between what he knows he should do according to his position (he should tell the king about the queen's request; turn her in for even thinking about adultery) and the idea of finally getting to act upon his feelings. Still, he can not say no to his queen, especially due to his feelings toward her as well as his place in court. He always believed that if you loved someone, you did anything you could to make them happy, even if that meant hurting yourself or putting yourself in danger in the process.
"Of course, My Queen," is his response as he nods his head in a slight bow. If anyone deserved happiness, it was his queen. Klaus had grown up at court, had watched as the king, then a young prince, became betrothed to Freya. There was no courting, no choice to be made, she was to be his no matter how she protested against the engagement. Thinking back on that time, Klaus believes that is when his feelings for her began to develop— he had watched as she fought to have a choice to love whomever she wanted no matter how many times she was shot down.
"I am here for whatever you ask of me," he added moments later because that was his job, to help her with her every need, "though the king will have my head if he were to find out that you were with another." Those words were beyond true. If the king found out, Klaus would not only lose his head, Freya would most likely lose hers too (and her dignity, but he did not want to think about that right now).
In his mind, an image of Freya knelt over and being held down in front of many villagers flashed. He could see the blade being drawn up high by the executioner and the sun glinting off the blade as it swung down. That is where it stopped; blade mid-air. Klaus was thankful for that and vowed to stay in the shadows about their secret.
Klaus' heart threatened to beat right out of his chest each and every time the queen called for him after she had told him her request and, honestly, he feared that somebody would hear the rapid beating of his heart one of these days. Thankfully, Klaus had managed to keep his composure on the outside and would simply nod his head, turn on his heel, and head toward the queen's room. Of course, nothing physical happened between the two on any of those occasions where the queen summoned him, instead they spoke about plans on when he could come to her chambers as she slept apart from the king.
Seeing as he was raised in court and knew the grounds well, it was not difficult for him to find a route to her chambers that would not be littered with guards. Even if there were guards, he could find a way to distract them and sneak by. Still, he could not help looking back over his shoulder as he crept along in the shadows, hoping that nobody was away from their post or meandering the halls at this time of night. She would be waiting for him and if he did not show, she would know why.
Thankfully, the guards stayed true to their posts and sending a small object flying behind them to sound a noise in the opposite hallway left Klaus with enough time to open the queen's door and slip into her chambers. The candles had been blown out, leaving him with little light, though he did not need it for he knew her room well. He had been there on multiple occasions, so he knew precisely where to step to make it to her bed without making a sound.
"My Queen," he murmured softly as he settled himself on the edge of her bed and waited for her to sit up or greet him.
Moments later, a soft hand was brushing against his own and a smile crept onto his lips as he grasped her hand and brought it up to his lips. He pressed a chaste kiss to her knuckles before releasing his grip on her hand and moving to grasp her waist with both hands so he could draw her closer. She swung her legs so they hung over the side of the bed to allow herself to be pulled in as close to him as possible without crowding into his lap.
"You are sure you are okay with this?" The question had Klaus pausing for a moment. Had not his meetings with her in the previous days been enough to convince her? If not that, did not the fact that he was risking his life for her happiness convince her? Either these had not convinced her or she was merely frightened about his safety. He hoped it was the latter instead of the former.
"Whatever my queen asks of me, I shall do." Again he skips over the part about him holding feelings for her. In his mind, she does not need to know what he thinks of her, only that he holds her in high enough regard to do the task she has asked of him.
He takes her silence then as her agreement to continue and he happily does so by moving his hands up between their two bodies to softly tug at the strings which are tied together and holding the top of her nightgown closed. He can feel it as the garment loosens enough that he can push the fabric away from her shoulders and gently guide her arms out of it, allowing the article of clothing to slip to the ground.
Klaus pauses then, reveling in the moment until her voice breaks the silence.
"Having second thoughts, are we, my knight?"
A huff of a laugh falls from his lips and he shakes his head, knowing full-well that she can not see the action within the darkness of her room.
"Simply taking it all in while I can," he responded before ducking his head down to press heated, open-mouthed kisses along her collarbone and up the curve of her neck. "You have always been such a magnificent beauty, I can not help but want to remember this moment for the rest of my life." His teeth capture the soft, sensitive flesh of her earlobe between them and suckle at it for a brief moment. Only when he feels her fingertips along his jawline, gently guiding him, does he release the flesh and lift his head up.
"Niklaus." He has never heard her speak his name in that manner. Her voice has always held such authority— it had always needed to— but now her voice was breathy and spoke much more than what she did. She needed him just as he needed her.
Slowly, he leaned in closer to her, his lips ghosting over hers. He could feel her breath hot against his lips and when she did not make a move to pull away from him, he could not help but close the gap between them. His lips pressed to hers and he silently pleaded that she not reject him for it. She did not. In fact, she parted her lips to deepen the kiss as her hands fumbled with tugging the hem of his shirt from his trousers so she could press her hands against hot skin.
Klaus had to keep himself in check; had to keep himself from capturing her lower lip between his own and leaving it bruised or leaving behind any other evidence that he had been there with her. This was hard for him to do when she was gliding her hands up his torso and across his chest until his shirt was rucked up high enough that he simply broke the kiss to remove the garment. The article of clothing was tossed carelessly aside, followed quickly by his belt which the queen had taken to undoing for him while he removed his shirt.
She was not wasting time and as much as Klaus would have liked to put this night to memory in case it were never to happen again, he did not have the time to do it the way he wanted to. Instead, he let her guide the pace and began undoing the strings of his trousers so he could slip them off as well. Grinning, he happily added her undergarments to the pile of clothes he had created on the floor.
Moments later, he was pulling her into his lap and snaking his arms around her waist to pull her tight against him, chest to chest. He could feel the way her chest rose and fell more rapidly than usual and the way her hips rocked down against his own as if reiterating why he was there. His hands shifted to grip her hips, lifting her up to help them gain a better position. This time when her hips shifted, he was pressing inside her.
Her breath hitched for a moment and Klaus wanted to hear more of that, so he could not help but duck his head down to press his lips to her breast, mouth capturing the sensitive nub of skin and suckling at it. A quiet moan fell from her lips then and he could tell she was trying her best to stifle the sound.
"We must be quiet," she whispered warningly and Klaus quickly released the sensitive nub and instead focused on guiding her hips in a slow, steady movement. He alternated between guiding her hips up and down and guiding them in slow circles against him, listening to each noise she made to find which movement she preferred more before settling on the former movement and continuing to guide her hips.
There were moments he had to capture her lips with his own to make sure the two of them were quiet, particularly when Freya guided his hands away from her hips and picked up her own rhythm. It was not long before her rhythm began to stutter and he felt her muscles tightening around him. Feeling her release and hearing his name quietly spill from her lips drew him closer to the edge and he quickly shifted their position so she was lying on her back. His hips rocked against hers a few more times before he was spilling his seed inside her and groaning quietly at his own release.
His head ducked down to press against her shoulder as he kept himself buried within her, not wanting to lose this moment just yet for he knew his job was complete for the night. His breathing was heavy; short, hot bursts of breath meeting her shoulder until her hands framed his face and guided him to lift his head up.
"I could not have asked for a better knight than you, my dear Niklaus," the queen whispered before lifting her head up to press a gentle kiss to his lips, "but I fear you must leave soon so others do not get suspicious if they find you are not in your chambers."
Klaus knew she was right— he must leave in case anyone were to come to his chambers and call for him for one reason or another and find that he was not there. If that were to happen, guards would begin searching the grounds and he could not endanger his queen in that way.
"Just one minute more," Klaus whispered, gently rocking his hips against hers just to hear that quiet whimper she let slip as he did.
"Niklaus," her tone of voice is warning him this time; warning that they have run out of time and he can not take this any further no matter how much he wishes to. "You need to leave. Now." Those words shake him away from the thoughts of what the two of them could be if she were to ever return his feelings and he simply nods his head and pulls away from her.
It doesn't take long for him to help her back into her clothing before doing the same to himself.
"Will you call for me again, my queen?" There is a hint of hope in his voice that this may happen again, that perhaps if it did, he would get to take his time with her and truly show her how he felt about her even if he could not verbally say it.
"I shall," she murmured as she slipped beneath the covers of her bed, "but for now you must be safe on your way back to your own chambers. Please, do be careful that nobody spots you, Niklaus, for I do not wish to lose you."
He bows then, though he is sure that she can not see this action due to the darkness of her room which surrounds them. It is a habit, he supposes, from the many times he had met with her in the past (though he must admit that those meetings were nothing close to what this one was).
With that, Klaus strode straight toward her door and cracked it open just enough that he could peak out to check for guards before slipping out of her chambers and heading back across the grounds to his own.
It was strange slipping into bed knowing what he had just done, especially since he was not the type of guy to sleep around. Klaus had always kept to the idea that feelings came first and the physicality of the relationship would follow after those feelings grew enough. Well, his feelings for her had grown quite a bit since he first laid eyes on her, though he had never made them known and he was sure she did not hold such feelings for him. This thought left him feeling betrayed, though he knew he had brought it upon himself.