Christine let herself immerse into the cool water of the river. It had been a long five days and there were still two left. She enjoyed the way the water let her mind clear itself and it rebelled by becoming bothered with images of her and Erik. Opening her eyes, she tried to make them go away, but they did not budge. Cursing herself, she dipped her head into the water.

Truthfully, she was scared to do anything. She was afraid she would disappoint him. Of all the things to be disappointed about! So many things to worry about and that was practically the top of the things on her list! God she was becoming a fool! Just then, she felt something slip in beside her and came up from under the water.

"Oh, Erik." Her arms went around herself as she slid deeper into the water and sat there.

"I hope you do not mind." He looked around them. "I thought that perhaps…"

"No, not at all." She said quickly. Silence surrounded them for a while.

"Gable said that we may get to Liren quicker," Erik spoke. "Perhaps a day and half. We would be arriving at night, but…"

"That is good." Her head nodded. "It is better that no one sees us."

"We should have done this earlier." He uttered quietly.

"Done what?" She looked up at him quickly.

"Visited Liren." His brow lifted. "Are you positive that I am not upsetting your bathing time?"

"Yes, I am positive." Her eyes went down, he lifted her chin up.

"I am going to go back to the campsite and wait for you." He kissed her lightly on the lips and began to get out. She turned away and he shook his head.

Christine turned just a bit and saw exactly what her husband looked like just before he began to slip into his clothes. He glanced at her and she quickly looked away, blushing profusely. Erik just sighed and walked away towards a well-covered patch of bushes and went behind them, sitting against a tree and looked out between the leaves at his wife for a moment. She was looking where he had walked away and began to swim out just a little bit. Shaking his head Erik went to the small campsite.


Erik sat with Christine in-between his legs as they stared up at the sky. They sat there quietly; all the men had fallen asleep in their tents as the king and queen, sat by them selves enjoying the stillness of everything. She rested her head on his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart.

"Is it good?" Erik heard his wife say quietly.

"Is what good?" He questioned.

"Making love?" That was even quieter than the last.

"It is." He answered. "But it would be even better with someone you loved and cared for."

"You cared for no one you made love with?" She asked.

"No." His head shook. "Cecile's mother and I never shared anything other than Cecile."

"And Arabella?"

"She was only a mistress." He answered plainly. They sat in another silence for a few moments.

"I am worried." Christine whispered.

"Worried?"

"Yes." She nodded. "What if I am like Cecile's mother or Arabella?"

"Christine." His hands turned her gently to face him and cupped her chin to look up at him. "You will never be like Cecile's mother, or like Arabella. You have a heart that neither of them possessed, or possesses."

"And you have a heart that does not deserve me in it." Her hand touched his unmasked side and stroked it gently. Seeing the disbelief in his eyes, she was quick to reassure him. "You truly are a good man, whether or not you believe it, you are. You are a good father, king, and husband. It would have been a blessing with the second, but for some reason I have all three. I love you, Erik."

He kissed her then. Erik was not sure how else to put his love into anything else other than that. He knew it was a simple thing, but soon it led to something that was much more than he expected from Christine in the middle of the forest. She kissed him back with a force that he could not believe and pushed him back till he was lying on a rolled up blanket.

Her hands gripped his neck, begging him to be closer to her. He responded by suddenly flipping her on her back, making her let out a small gasp. She gripped at him, letting his shirt become un-tucked and fumbled with a few of his shirt buttons. Erik slowly began to pull her skirts higher.

"Erik." She gasped, feeling his hands move onto her thigh and towards her center. Suddenly something snapped as a finger slipped inside of her. "Erik, the men," She whispered desperately.

He pulled his finger out of her and she felt an unexpected disappointment. "We should stop, then." His breathing a little labored.

Thinking for a few minutes, Christine pulled him down for a deep open mouthed kissed. She was pleased when she heard him give a low moan. "Let's not worry about the men right now." Her plea was quiet yet strong, as Erik began to kiss her fiercely again.

She gave a satisfied gasp when he once again slipped one finger into her and then her body shook when he slipped in another. His long, talented fingers began to move within her and Christine experienced something that she never had before. The wind left her lungs, and she was gaping for air like a fish, as her eyes rolled back in her head and fluttered shut.

Erik smiled down at her as he carefully slipped his fingers out of her, noticing her finish. He gave her one last kiss before moving to the side of her, while she just stared up at the stars, not exactly knowing what to say.

"That was not making love." She stated.

"Yes."

"You did not get any pleasure." Her eyes were staring at the stars.

"Not true." He turned to her. "It gives me pleasure knowing that I can give you pleasure."

"Are you patronizing me?"

"Not at all."

"Do all men do that?

"Not all."

"Erik." She finally turned to him. "I am glad that you are one of those men that do."

-

Christine quietly led the men through the darkened streets of Liren. They all had dismounted from their horses and were now simply walking around in the deserted streets. She could only see a small amount of the streets but noticed that they were a little cleaner than when she had left.

Some of the houses were still cracked and worn. The streets still had a few random bones lying spaciously throughout the road. There were not any lights on in any of the houses. A small dog was lying by a house; it looked up and then put its head back down on its bony legs as they walked passed it, notably too tried and too weak to warn them off.

"It is only ten o'clock at night." A solider commented, quietly to another beside him. "And everyone is asleep?"

"They do not have any money for worldly pleasures like Borswan's people." Christine replied to him. "Each family lives off of only what they can get, but it looks much better than last time I was here."

"Better?" One looked at her.

"Yes." She took another look around her. "The streets do not have as many bones, and some of the houses have been somewhat restored."

"What was it like when you were younger?" Erik came closer to her.

"People did not go to bed at ten o'clock at night." A small smile came to her face. "Not even the country people. But the war came and everything went to hell after that."

"Excuse me, Your Majesty." Gable said from behind. "But what is it like in the country now."

"I remember it being not very much better." She nodded. "The people there have space to grow the food they need, so they are not starving as much. Although they are always simple people."

Again, silence came between all of the people as they stared at everything around them. Christine knew that none of them were used to such meager standings, but they all took it in stride. She knew they were shocked of how the people of her country lived, and they also knew who caused it, which was a somewhat of a relief to her.

As they, all turned the corner they all stared at the great palace of Liren. It was not at all like the one in Borswan, in fact it was white with, what seemed to be flaking gold inlay showing just a small amount of detail. The palace resembled that of a Greek Temple, with columns on the top of the steps and as they climbed the steps, they came to a door and saw a single person standing at the door.

"Majesty," A woman unknown to Erik greeted them. "I am afraid I have some bad news."

-

We are in Liren! And I have to clap for you guys because you gave me ten reviews and the inspiration to get the chapter done, and on time! So you have my thanks! Anyway please review and thank you for reading, oh and should I bump this up to a M rating? I'm really bad with the rating system, so info please! And thanks to my beta, who has to deal with me and everything else!

EV