The King, The Duke, and The Lady

A Story of Friendship, Lust, and Love

Chapter 5

Just twenty-four hours later, Brianna was summoned to the King's chambers. It was the middle of the night and she was already in bed when the surprising note came from Charles.

B---

The King is ill and asking for you.

His leg is troubling him again.

Bring your apothecary. I will be waiting.

C---

The note was brief and not even sealed, silently declaring its urgency. One of Brianna's ladies woke when the messenger arrived and Brianna asked her to quickly fetch her apothecary. She took it with her wherever she went. Over the years, Brianna had learned quite a bit about herbs and other things that solved a world of illnesses. She suffered from her own personal demons and it had taken her desire to help cure her own headaches and such to learn such a delicate craft.

Brianna quickly put on her robe of royal blue, buttoning it up over her linen nightgown. Her lady handed her her slippers and her bag, but before she left her lady touched her arm, pausing her.

"My Lady, are you sure that going to the King's bedside alone at night is such a good idea? Your reputation, My Lady!"

"I will not be alone Margaret. Lord Suffolk will be there as well. I will be fine. No harm will come to me, and if there is damage to my reputation, well so be it. The King requires my presence since he is ill. I will not deny him. Go back to sleep. Tomorrow, cancel any of my engagements, pleading illness. I suspect I will be too tired after tonight to be useful at all tomorrow." Their whispered conversation caused a few of the other ladies to stir, but no one woke and Brianna slipped quietly through the apartment and down the hallway to the King's chambers.

His Chamber Men were alert and waiting for her and immediately opened the door for her to enter. She could hear the King's moans of pain from even outside the door. She quickly walked in and sat beside him on the bed. He lay there naked, a sheet covering his private parts, with his damaged leg left out for inspection. Charles was pacing back and forth and went immediately to Brianna, relief that she was there to help on his face. She quickly took in the situation and felt Henry's forehead for fever. Then she turned to Charles.

"I will need a cauldron of hot water set over the fire, a cup for tea, a large bowl of cool water as well, and many clean cloths. Please see to that Charles." She heard him relay the orders and urged the men to hurry.

Brianna took her robe off, unconcerned about her immodesty, and more concerned about caring for the King. She examined the wound carefully, ignoring his pleas and moans for the moment. The wound was circular and about two inches in diameter. It was bloody and pus took up a good portion of the sore. And it smelled bad. She knew that was a terrible sign. There was also a great deal of redness surrounding the wound which indicated infection of some kind.

"How did this happen? How long has it been like this? He didn't seem to be in pain last night," she asked as she probed around the open sore.

It was Charles who answered. "Henry was wounded in a joust several years ago. This has been an on-going problem for him. It tends to reoccur during stressful times, and sometimes he is required to use a cane to walk. His doctors cannot seem to do anything for him except bleed him. It comes on very quickly. He didn't have any symptoms last night. Of that I am sure."

"He should have his doctor here, Charles. I am not qualified to deal with this sort of injury!"

Henry grabbed her arm and said to her through gritted teeth, "You will try first, even if it is to just ease my pain. The doctors have not been able to help me in the past. Please Bri…" His head dropped back onto his sweat covered pillow.

"Alright Henry, alright. I will try to help." The waiting men came in with the items she had requested including putting the cauldron over the fire to keep the water hot. Charles promptly dismissed them but asked them to stay close in case they were needed.

Brianna stroked Henry's brow with a cool cloth. "Henry, I'm going to have Charles keep cool cloths on your forehead to help your fever and make you more comfortable. I'm going to prepare you some tea that will help you. It will help you relax and hopefully take some of the pain away. It will smell terrible, and taste worse, but I will sweeten it with honey."

Henry nodded in understanding but did not open his eyes. Pain was etched on his face and her heart went out to him. Brianna went quietly to her bag on the table and pulled out several powders and leaves. She took the mortar and pestle and ground the leaves and powder together forming a powdery concoction. Taking one of the fine linen cloths, she scraped the freshly made tea into the linen and tied it together with twine and then poured hot water over it. She added honey and let it steep while she pulled out more items to use later. Her concentration was completely on the selection of the best from her apothecary and she tried to block Henry's moans. He seemed to float in and out of consciousness which she supposed was a blessing.

Brianna brought him the prepared tea and held it to his lips. He snarled his nose at the smell and looked at her in question. She answered his disgusted face, "I told you it would smell bad. Just wait until you taste it. But you must drink it all. It is made from valerian, hops, passionflower, Jamaica dogwood, and chamomile. Several of these herbs will help you sleep and some will help you sleep as well as ease your pain. Adding all these together will make it very powerful and you may very well fall asleep quickly which will help us both in cleaning the wound."

Henry started drinking the tea, his face in a frown but his eyes determined. Brianna continued as he drank, "I am going to clean out the sore. I have to remove the pus inside of the wound to see what we are dealing with. And Henry, that is going to hurt like hell. I may have to debride the wound, scraping some of the tissue around it out so that we can disinfect the area and allow healthy tissue to grow back. That too will hurt badly."

"Fine, do it!" Henry uttered briefly through his tight jaw and gritted teeth.

"Once all that is done, I'll make a poultice that will help to draw out the bad things in the wound and stop the infection. You are running a fever because of the infection and the infection taking over is the biggest risk we face. We'll wrap your leg with the poultice tightly inside over the wound and you will sleep. Charles and I will stay here with you and replace your bandages and the poultice every few hours. Ok? If I think at any time your life becomes at risk, I'm going to call your doctor."

"Bri- I trust you. Just get on with it already. The pain is terrible."

Brianna stroked his brow and ran her finger lightly down his cheek. "Alright my love, I will get started. This will hurt us both, and I dare say will hurt Charles as well."

Brianna began with sterilizing the scalpel over the candle beside the bed. She heated it up quite hot and started to use it to wipe the cream colored pus away. She filled a small linen cloth with the foul smelling gel and removed it from the King's bed. A servant came and took it away.

"Charles, can you open a window to clear the air in here? He needs fresh air and we should get the smell of sickness out of here." Charles got up to do as Brianna asked as she continued her work on the wound. The sore was deep and far reaching into the tissue. She took a moment to evaluate her options and then wiped the scalpel clean and sterilized it again over the candle. She took to scraping away the flesh that appeared unhealthy and removing it from the wound. This caused the bleeding to start again, but she thought that was a good sign and would clean the wound with the body's own cleaning mechanism.

As the blood leaked out, she had Charles wipe it away gently while she prepared something to clean the wound again. Brianna mixed capsicum to fight the infection to some liquid chlorophyll and comfrey. She went back to Henry's bedside and while Charles removed the bloodied cloths, she poured the mixture into the wound. She had learned that a mixture such as this would help the wound heal faster and take out whatever infection and redness there was. It burned but Henry was unconscious, but soon she would need him awake to drink another tea. She decided to put the poultice on his leg first and then wake him for the tea.

Charles cleaned the area around the wound with some of the same liquid she poured into the sore and wiped up the excess while she made the poultice. She added many herbs along with a small amount of hot water until she had a paste she could put into another piece of linen. She placed the poultice into the wound and Charles helped her to wrap Henry's leg tightly. Out of discretion, Charles uncomfortably took the upper part of Henry's leg where he was exposed and began the wrap there. Neither of them had ever seen the King naked before, when would they have had cause to? This was uncomfortable for them both, but given their concern for him they ignored it and carried on with what he needed.

While Charles gently woke Henry, Brianna prepared a tea that would support the fight of infection and ease his pain quite a bit. Henry bravely drank it down and eased himself back onto his pillow, quickly falling asleep his breathing quiet and his body relaxed. Brianna took a break, preparing another several poultices, requiring one of the King's men to go to the apothecary in the middle of the night and retrieve several herbs she had run out of. It would be a long night to keep replacing the poultices and rewrapping his leg, but hopefully by morning his fever would have broken and he would be on the mend.

Charles and Brianna played cards and talked softly until it was time to change the poultice the first time. She was pleased with the difference in the wound and placed another one in its place. She made some warm water sprinkling some sweet herbs in the water while Charles rewrapped Henry's leg in clean linens. She brought the bowl over to the bed, suggesting they bathe the King.

Charles recoiled. "Bathe the King? You must be kidding Brianna! We have no right!"

Brianna looked at him, amused. "Charles, you are hardly a prude, we both know that. Henry needs to have the sweat from his body washed away. It will help him feel better. I will do it if you will not. And Charles," her voice dropped to a seductive whisper, "perhaps you should become accustomed to the King's nakedness." She laughed lightly as she began Henry's bath. Charles just looked at her, rolling his eyes at her obvious amusement.

Soon the bath was done and they covered the King with his sheets and blankets to keep him warm. Charles and Brianna moved from the bed onto the rug beside the fireplace lying side by side facing each other. Charles quietly stroked her face with his finger, before speaking. "After you left last night, I asked the King for his blessing to marry you."

She lay there enjoying his light touch, her eyes closed in sleepiness. "And?"

"He didn't give it." Brianna opened her eyes in surprise. "At least not yet. He wants to speak with both of us before he gives it. He seems to still think he can convince you to become his mistress at the very least." Charles' voice was soft, but the frustration he felt was evident.

"He will give us his blessing Charles. I have faith. And it will be sooner rather than later. I would like to be married very soon after his blessing is granted. What do you think?"

"I cannot wait to marry you. I love you and I want to spend every night with you, in our bed, together. If possible, I would never sleep apart from you."

"Ah, you are just in this for the sex…" she teased in a conspiratorial whisper.

"You know that isn't true. But yes, I will admit to feeling a certain urgency where sharing your bed is concerned." His hands roamed down her body, barely covered under the thin linen. He stroked her breast, even running his thumb over her nipple causing it to peak and for her to moan.

"Charles," she breathed as she rolled onto her back.

He slowly moved over her, bringing his lips softly to hers. He slowly built the pressure against her lips as her mouth opened to his will. One hand was buried in her soft hair while the other moved across her body slowly, taking in the landscape of her hills and valleys. Their kisses were hot and urgent with tongues and lips dueling with each other, occasionally biting and sucking on the other. She moaned again as he started to lift her gown, his hand slowly dragging lightly up her leg. Her body responded by arching against him, feeling his prodigious instrument pressed against her stomach as she squeezed his hand in place between her thighs, effectively stopping his progression. He moaned and started moving his open mouth across her face and down her neck, licking and lightly sucking not wanting to mar her unblemished neck. His urgency was clear, even if his hand was stilled.

Soon, taking a deep breath and reluctantly pushing him gently away, Brianna gasped, "Charles, we cannot do this. Please…I need you to help me. My desire for you is inflamed, but I don't want our first time, my first time, to be on the rugs of the King's chamber. It should be on our marriage bed, where you take my maidenhead and have the blood to prove it."

Charles sighed loudly in frustration and rolled away from Brianna. "God, Bri…you are killing me."

She laughed lightly, her own frustration intense as well. "My love, you will not die from having to wait, but you may die if you choose to find an outlet for your frustration somewhere else."

Charles snorted, "No doubt. The King threatened as much last night. He claimed that if I hurt you in any way or took a mistress or another woman to my bed, then he would be *very* displeased."

"Well then, I am glad he is looking after my interests here." She rolled her body onto its side as she lay pressed against Charles' side. She watched him watch her move her hand along the path he had traced with his own moments ago. Brianna reveled in the heat in his eyes and the quickening of his breath. Her hand climbed slowly up her inner thigh, only barely hidden by her nightgown. Charles' breath was coming fast now, along with her own as she inserted her finger inside her hot and wet channel, something she had never done before. She wondered at the sensation and closed her eyes with the ecstasy of it. She crooked her finger to draw out as much of her creamy excitement as she could and slowly withdrew her hand. Charles had hardly blinked as he watched her shameless display.

Brianna watched as his Adam's apple moved up and down as his excitement grew and he swallowed hard. She moved her finger slowly towards his lips, not taking her eyes off of his light blue ones. She brushed her wet finger against his lips as a moan escaped him and he took her finger into his mouth. Her eyes closed for a moment while he started to erotically suck and lick the cream off her finger. It was her turn to moan, her heart racing at the daring of their mutual acts. When he was finished, he gently removed her finger and kissed it, staring at her in wonder and passion.

She smiled at him shyly with a hint of amusement in her eyes. She raised herself from the rug, putting her hand out to him pulling him up as well. She held his hand as she led him to the King's bed, pulling the covers back and climbing in beside the King's sleeping body. He climbed in beside her as she felt the King's forehead, pleased that it was much cooler than before. His fever must have broken and that was an excellent sign. He might sleep the rest of the night without pain. She pulled herself up to the King's body putting an arm over his bare, well-muscled chest while Charles spooned behind her, his manhood pressed against her ass and his arm wrapped around her body, cupping one of her breasts. She wiggled her bottom against his hardness soliciting another quiet moan from him as she settled her body tightly against his.

Charles raised himself up slightly to reach her ear. He pulled some strands away and nibbled on her earlobe causing her to wiggle again. He whispered in a sinfully deep voice, "Ah, my lovely Brianna…the things I will do to you and for you when we are married. You will walk like a duck for weeks. I will never tire of joining our bodies together, over and over, every night, in every way."

She pressed her body back against him again, and teased even while her voice was whispered, dark with promises of sex and sin. "Promises, promises Your Grace. And I think you hint of things sinful and banned, which makes it all the more exciting."

He gave her a low devilish laugh, kissing her ear, and then wrapping her in his arms quietly fell asleep.

TBC

Please review! I read every one!!

A/N: Nothing here should be construed as medical advice, obviously. I did research the herbs, and they do treat what I say they do in this story. However, I have no idea how they mix together, the quantity or anything else about them. I made it up! Talk to a naturapath or a herbologist if you plan to try any of this at home (not recommended).