Everything is different after the meeting with the generals.
Yona is relieved and excited. Is this really, really happening?! The exhilarating feeling radiates through her - she truly wants to be Queen.
Though with that thought, she also feels a new weight on her shoulders. One she hopes she can bear. Serving her people is her passion and not a problem. But that's only part of being Queen.
As she watches the generals depart with their troops for their home tribes, she keeps an eye on Geun-Tae. Soo-Won had won him over… and she knows he holds a true respect for Hak - but she hopes she one day can win his support on her own.
Kyo-Ga has already been advocating for her, which she treasures. Though she laments the conversation he'll need to have with his little brother… that she will be the queen now and Hak the king. Perhaps Tae-Jun would be supportive of it now, but his heart surely will still sink a little.
Tae-Woo chases after Hak before taking off, looking up to him as he always has, with wonder and respect. Hak responds down to him, relieved, no longer carrying a secret from his family. Yona notices how cute Tae-Woo looks being so excited about what's going on with his idol. She wonders how rowdy the scene will be when Tae-Woo tells the rest of the Wind tribe about this. Lord Hak really is incredible.
In contrast to that excitement, Joon-Gi's body is being taken mournfully back to Suiko by Lili and the Water troops. There will be a great funeral. And after, Yona will be tasked with appointing a new general and leader for the Water Tribe.
Then there is Joo-Doh… who will now follow Yona and Hak around as a bodyguard every step of the way back to Kuuto. Yona can't tell if he is suspicious or prudent.
It's not that Joo-Doh has anything against Yona and Hak specifically - OK a few specific things against Hak - but mainly he's a man who observes things. What exactly happened with Soo-Won is still very mysterious.
Something hasn't added up.
Aside from Joo-Doh giving Yona and Hak absolutely no privacy day or night over the weeks it takes to return to Kuuto, he also presents many political discussions. The necessities.
Like - who will be the new royal advisor? Yona and Hak quickly agree to call for Mundok to come to the palace. There could be no one better.
Also - how will they address Hak's status as a fugitive? The official story still floating around is that Hak killed King Il. Would people think Hak also killed King Soo-Won? Unless they can clear Hak's name with an adequate explanation, there will be an unpredictable number of naysayers to their union and any coronation.
Yona can't work on devising such a story with Hak or even confide about what really happened with Soo-Won thanks to their ever-present bodyguard. She desperately desires to arrive at Hiryuu Palace so she can at last be alone with her husband.
Yet at the same time she is terrified of going back to that place. It'll be like going back to a former life. And having to face the site of that devastating, traumatic night... How could she ever step foot in the king's chambers again?
Hak must know what she's thinking. She's been riding on her own horse, getting to show off her new skills to her favorite teacher, but he still has been reaching across to caress her back or squeeze her hand.
When she looks back at him now, there is a comforting look in his eyes... and it gives her strength.
When they at long last arrive at Kuuto and ride through the town, Yona watches her boys - Hak, Jae-Ha, Yun, Shin-Ah, and Ao - grab meat skewers from vendors with stars in their eyes. (Ao goes after some roasted chestnuts.)
Oh yeah, she remembers, We're not poor anymore. I can stuff their happy bellies full of meat and delicious things. Hak and Jae-Ha can share fine alcohol. And Jae-
Yona rolls her eyes when she sees Jae-Ha, still recovering mind you, already wandering off after some beautiful young Kuuto ladies.
Yep, they are going to be very happy, I think, Yona smiles.
Hak offers Yona some skewers, but she declines. She's felt sick most of their ride back with no appetite at all. She wonders if it's been from anxiety about returning to the palace…
Yona steps into the courtyard of Hiryuu Castle. A sorrowful gust of wind blows a strand of long crimson hair across her face. At first she feels nothing, like an empty shell. A foreigner with no connection to here. Perhaps she'd seen a picture once. Someone's else's life.
Then the silent tears start. She sees ghosts of Hak and Soo-Won walking across the stone expanse. Smiling, joking.
She sees a memory of her father playing out before her. Returning from the shrine. Always praying. What were you praying for, Father?
She sees a mirror of herself walking toward her now, rosy-cheeked and innocent. Made up and beautiful. Chasing after something she'd never get. Not noticing…
...Hak watching her from behind. And what's that look in his eyes?
Present Yona turns - and there he is. Watching her from behind. That same look in his eyes. Love.
She blushes. How could she have not seen it back then?
"This is weird," Yona admits through her tears, "I'm feeling angry about so many things. And yet… so grateful about others."
Hak takes her hand in his, "For what it's worth - in spite of everything... I feel grateful."
Yona strokes her thumb across his rough skin, coming into contact with his wedding band. Me, too.
The tears come a little harder now. Their innocence truly gone. They grew up. Together. Overnight and through tremendous pain. But... the love that blooms out of scars runs the deepest.
As they stand facing the palace, Yona wipes her tears and lifts her countenance with determination - they are stronger than ever now. Their past will not define their future.
The future is theirs to build together.
As soon as they enter the edifice, royal staff and medics rush to take them to baths to cleanse their bodies and clean their wounds, to dress them in fine clothes and pray over them for restored health.
At first Yona doesn't like this - she wants to show Jae-Ha, Yun, Shin-Ah, and Ao around her former home and their new home. She wants to know where their rooms will be. She's already started to fantasize about palace sleepovers. Wouldn't it be fun to all sleep together again sometimes?
But then she remembers… Hak. And how a little privacy, especially tonight, might be a very good thing.
She scrubs her skin very thoroughly now, getting nice and soft while thinking about what they finally might get to do again later…
Instead of walking to dinner as she was instructed, Yona finds herself wandering the palace halls in the direction of her old room. She just wants to see…
Hak stands across from her, "This isn't the way to dinner…"
Yona bites her lower lip and takes his hand in hers to lead him, "I'm glad I ran into you. It's better if we do this together."
"What?" Hak is happily baffled as he follows. When they stop outside her room, he knows, "Want me to go in first?"
"I would always rush in here without a thought. Isn't it funny how scared I am to open this door?"
Hak squeezes her hand, "I'm here."
"Thank you. I need to face this. I guess it was weighing on me more than I thought."
"Things you once loved tend to do that…"
Yona pushes open the door… to see her room already lit. As though someone knew she would want to come in here tonight.
She steps in, taking in the sight of everything still in its place. Preserved. Literally, not a single thing moved.
Hak comes in, too, closing the door behind them.
"You used to always stand over there," Yona points.
"You used to always throw that at me," Hak points to a porcelain bowl.
"Hey…" Yona laughs, "...that's actually true. And that," she nods at a tea set.
"I'll watch my mouth tonight," he considers.
Yona glances up at him, her eyes saying it all, "Don't…"
His mouth opens a little at her insinuation then he eyes the door - closed. Next he looks at her bed, his eyebrows rising.
Yona's mind races with desire and realization, "Did you ever... want to sleep in my bed before?"
Hak smiles wryly, "You invited me in before."
Yona gets giddy at what could have been going through his mind back then when she had no idea. But she has ideas now, "I'm inviting you again. Sleep with me here tonight?"
"Can tonight start right now?"
Yona is loving this, "You waited longer than I can imagine to sleep with me in that bed. I don't think I can ask you to wait any longer."
Their long, chaste journey paired with Yona's teases have Hak nearly panting. As he wraps an arm around her and pulls her against his body, he leans in to steal a kiss from her lips.
Yona pulls back, "Tell me something first…"
Hak's eyes are fogged with desire as he leans down and nuzzles her neck, "Anything."
"Did you ever… touch yourself when you thought of me back then?"
Hak pulls back and smiles in disbelief, "You never stop surprising me."
Yona blushes, "Did you…?"
He looks at her deeply, honestly, "Of course."
Yona feels herself getting wet. Remembering how hot he was even back then and she hadn't even paid attention to him as a man. But him thinking of her as a woman back then and stroking that glorious erection of his… Now Yona's thighs are getting weak...
"Have you ever touched yourself while thinking about me?" he asks right back, almost afraid of her answer.
Yona turns her face in embarrassment, blushing deep red, "I didn't ever do that back then… it wasn't until I noticed you. Your face," she smiles coyly up at him, then reaches up to put her fingers in his hair, "This hair. Your shoulders. Your heart. That's the first time I wanted to touch down there."
He starts unfastening her dress, "...did you ever?"
Yona blushes deeper, "I missed you…"
"You did..." Hak smiles triumphantly.
He looks at her pretty little hands with long, delicate fingers. He lifts her right hand and begins kissing it finger by finger, "I would've liked to have seen that," then he begins to gently suck on her fingertips, which makes Yona gasp.
"Hak..." she moans as she begins to move backward toward her bed, "What you do with your hands to me down there…"
He flicks his eyes up at her in an offer.
"I've missed you so much," she confesses.
And instantly the warrior from the battlefield has her back on the bed, his mouth eagerly against hers as he impossibly fast works to remove any and every piece of fabric on her body.
She in return fumbles her fingers against his robes, trying to get to that taut flesh she's craved every night since last she had him.
"What turned you on?" Yona pants as she feels her hands up his chiseled chest.
"There are plenty of parts of you that turn me on, Yona," Hak offers as his use of her name steals her breath, "But I'm guessing you want to hear the unwholesome parts."
"Mmmm," Yona moans as he feels her now-exposed breasts, "Tell me."
He leans down and whispers into her ear, "You had a blue gown. It was the first that ever showed your cleavage. I had a very hard time that day."
"Did you come?" she feels his hand moving down low…
"I got off three times that day just remembering the sight," he looks wistfully over her swollen breasts, her pink nipples there for him and only him to suck and lick, nip and tease. He brings his mouth to them, then continues, "And I thought back on them often."
Yona writhes in pleasure under him as he takes a breast in his mouth, sucking her and lapping his tongue over her nipple, "Ahhh," it incites a pressure and a light in her core.
He slips two fingers from his other hand inside her, slipping a third back to her anus. Yona gasps again, returning to her usual loud lovemaking. Pushing her head back hard against the bedding as she fights the pleasure from consuming her, "How do you… know how to… that…"
Hak brings his mouth to hers, sweeping his tongue into a sweet dance with hers, then he pulls back to answer, "I had years dreaming up and then trying to forget every last thing I wanted to do to you."
As his hand inside her begins to thrust, she begs, "Keep… remembering…"
His eyes are hooded with his own pleasure as he continues to work his hand in her wetness, "I was never actually able to forget."
Yona responds louder yet, Hak is mesmerized watching her sweat and move against him. He can't help but move his mouth down to her womanhood and begin kissing and licking her there.
Yona spreads her thighs wide to further invite him. He runs his tongue up and down her slit, then removes his hand and sticks his tongue inside her, licking up her warmth and juices. Then he brings his hand back into action and begins sucking on her nub.
Yona's hands tremble in his messy hair as she loses herself against his mouth, screaming his name, "Hak!"
He pulls back, in the daze of a happy dream, then drops his robes fully and climbs into bed properly, tenderly lifting her pleasure-ridden body up next to him, now fully naked as well.
He runs a hand over her soft skin as he slowly professes, "All the times you touched me… or I got to touch you. Help you onto a horse. Pull you from a fall. Redirect you away from running into someone annoying... I couldn't shake it from my head. Days later... I still felt you."
"That's how I feel about you now," Yona looks up at him wantonly.
Hak slowly, meaningfully lowers his lips to hers and takes her in a passionate, giving kiss. Then he mounts her, she spreading her legs for him. He takes a profound glance of disbelief and gratefulness at this bed, this room, then back down at this princess… after the head of his penis teases her wet entrance just enough to make her practically begging, he brings himself inside her, expanding her for him, finding her core. He leans his torso down over her, taking her mouth once more and begins thrusting.
Each motion causes Yona to gasp and then swallow her breath. Her body tense, back arched, toes curled, hands grasping desperately at his broad back. The pleasure of their friction has her mind in another world. It's a transcendent, magical experience to be lovers and she is off in bliss with Hak, a place that is only theirs.
Hak lifts his face up so he can watch her as he thrusts into her. Watch her face roll side to side as she moans his name. He thrusts harder, watching her receive all of it. It's incredible…
He scoops her into his arms and rolls onto his back, now with a full vantage of her. Yona puts her hands on his chest and begins riding him, throwing her head back as she moves atop.
Hak watches her pert breasts bounce and her ab muscles tighten as she rises and falls on his cock. He places his hands on her hips as she continues and can't help but moan along with her, "Yona… Yona!"
He flips her onto her back as he finishes with a powerful thrust into her, ejaculating as her own orgasm tightens around his dick. He spills into her more and more, both of them aftershocking together.
They lay coupled together, panting, holding one another for a couple sweet moments before Hak rolls to the side and pulls a blanket over Yona.
She offers room under the blanket for him, too, "Can this be our room now?"
Hak looks at how serious she is and starts laughing… then harder and harder, almost crying he's laughing so hard.
"What?!" she's prepared to smack him.
With a hand to his forehead Hak finally pulls it together, "Sorry, Princess. This is... unbelievable. I keep expecting to wake up from some dream. Or find out it's the afterlife. It's… few deserve this much happiness, certainly not me."
Yona snuggles up against him, "Don't say that. But I'm happy you're happy. I'm happy, too. The happiest I've ever been. Which is crazy… I never thought I'd be happy again after…"
Hak wraps a protective hand around her waist. He smiles with tears in his eyes now, "I told you before… your happiness is my greatest happiness. That will never change."
And also not for the first time, Yona tears up at this sentiment... because she knows exactly how he feels and that they both mean it with all their hearts.
As a post-journey, post-lovemaking contented tiredness falls over them, the lovers feel skin against skin, breath in sync with breath, heartbeat against heartbeat… and naked in this moment of peace, Yona finally recognizes the strange sensation she's recently started feeling in her breasts. A pain and swelling. This is the same as… when her breasts first began to grow. They're… growing?
Yona gazes up at Hak's tranquil, sleeping face as she realizes. Her sickness these past couple weeks may not have been from the journey after all...
Author confession... for a good while, I planned to end on this chapter. !
But after many comments across sites and PMs, I started thinking... what if the story kept going a bit? After realizing Hak and Yona still have some rediscovering to do of each other and there are plenty of important, exciting events ahead (and not just for them), I decided to take up the challenge of continuing.
This is apparently the story that never ends! Or at least, not when I think it's going to :-P
Thanks for encouraging me onward. I hope you enjoy all that comes next!
There will likely be a few extra days of "no chapter" between this and the next because I was holding off on some IRL things I need to do for when I finished this story. But since I decided not to finish (whooops), I'm gonna take a couple days to wrap up the IRL things and then I'll be right back here to continue onward. \^_^/