Chapter 6

It was truly one of my greatest feats of magic, to transport accurately in such circumstances.

I was quite proud of myself that I appeared in my bedchamber, and not in the middle of the Great Hall during luncheon with my shirt open, my cock hanging out of my breeches and the scent of the second Princess's pleasure smeared all over my face. As it was I clutched on to my bedpost, my knees weak, as my other hand stroked my thrice-damned cock with harsh speed to a spectacular climax, my mind still filled with the sights and sounds and scents of Sofia.

It was bad enough that every night since her first Heat I had been tortured with visions of her thrashing in pleasure on my fingers. No, now I would be tortured night and day with the memory of her pink lips wrapped around my cock, moving from innocent exploration to sensual perfection in mere moments. And then the sight of her atop me, grinding her hips into mine – Merlin's bloody mushrooms and Diana's ruddy dildos I would never get that out of my head. I didn't want to. I wanted to live in that moment for the next hundred years.

I collapsed into a fitful sleep after I'd come, only to wake up hours later with the Auferte animalis spell having faded and me still covered in the scent of my desired mate in Heat.

Oh, I had wanted respect. I had wanted power. I had wanted the heads of my enemies on a platter (well, not lately, too much blood), but I had never wanted anything so much as to bury myself inside of her Royal Highness, Princess Sofia Esmeralda Balthazar FitzRoland Winslow.

This time I "waxed my wand" not once, but twice, during a long thorough shower as I tried to get her scent off of me. Then I spent my time being professionally miserable, thinking that I had lost any chance with her. Why had I been so stupid, to make her face the future of life with me, children with me, rather than let her give in to her passions and take what she wanted from me? Sofia would be happy. She'd force herself to be happy with me, it was what she did – excel at being happy.

But I was so greedy. I wanted MORE. I wanted her to want me as I wanted her, day and night, waxing moon and waning moon, human and wolf. I didn't just want to be the cure to her Heat, a means to an end. I wanted to be her everything.

A full two days went by, and I paced around my tower enough to wear holes in all the Tangu carpets in my rooms. I didn't dare go outside, for fear that the smallest trace of her scent would make me charge to her side and take what she kept offering. I didn't eat, couldn't sleep, and had a two day growth of beard as I mourned what could have been if I had been more cunning and less greedy.

It was a surprise when the portrait in my workroom glowed and Father appeared rather than Mother. His brow was drawn and he actually looked worried about me. He took a deep breath to speak and then stopped suddenly, a smile on his face. "So, she's gone into Heat then, has she? You've finally worked everything out? Where is she, and why do you look so terrible, son?"

I stared at him, utterly flummoxed. He knew Sofia was a wolf Guardian, it had been impossible to keep it from him or Mumsy popping in to check on me far too often, but he hadn't given the least clue that he expected us to end up paired together.

"It's much more complicated then that, Father. She, she's suffering and I helped as best I could," I don't think I had ever blushed this hard in front of him, "But she is still untouched in all the ways that would matter to a marriage of state."

He squinted at me, as though he hadn't quite heard me right. "That girl has been chasing you on one level or another for a decade. She's the only werewolf female in a thousand miles, and she chooses you, and you want her to make a loveless marriage of state, boy? Are you insane?"

Anger flooded through me, hot and thick, "I love her! I love her and I'm not good enough for her and she deserves a bloody prince and for once in my life I am trying to be noble so just shut up and go away!"

"She is not a princess of the blood. I doubt any prince has made her an offer, or at least not a crown prince with a kingdom to inherit. I doubt she could aim any higher than a Duke, which you are since I abdicated, so there shouldn't be a problem then, should there. Love conquers all."

I blinked at him, wondering if he'd gotten into the brandy again. Mother swore her spell on the liquor cabinet was full-proof.

He continued to stare at me expectantly, then he flinched. "Oh, oh dear. I thought I had told you. I didn't when you were young, you know. Didn't want you flaunting it at Hexley and getting bullied about it or getting a big head. And then there were all the accidents and I wasn't sure….well, by the time you'd shown what a capable sorcerer and quality Guardian you were, it didn't much make a difference and it never mattered much to me or your Grandfather so..."

"Father, somewhere in the last five minutes you managed to imply that I am in fact not a mere common sorcerer, equivalent in rank to the baker or the butcher, but rather than I am a Duke. Are you sure you haven't struck your head recently?"

"A sorcerer always holds some kind of rank by virtue of their sheer power! A butcher indeed, really Cedric, your dark sense of humor will get you..."

"Father! This is important. Are you doing this to torture me or..."

Father flicked his wand and off of the bookshelf jumped a copy of the Enchancian Charter, the document which enshrined the earliest founding and laws of Enchancia. He used his wand to speed through page after page of parchment, until nodding in satisfaction. "There, page one hundred and eighty eight. Start with the bold text."

I took the book and read aloud. "Sovereignty of the Forest. Be it known to all good men and creatures within the borders of the mountains to the East and the seas of the West, that the length of forest running the length of this Good Land is under the protection and rule of the Guardians of this land. Those Guardians henceforth serve the King and his men as Sorcerer Royal and in return the sovereign control of said Forest falls to the family of the Sorcerer Royal of Enchancia in perpetuity. This sovereign holding bequeaths the Guardian the rank of Duke, Lord Silva, until he or she chooses an heir to succeed them, or the line fails to produce an heir of power."

My voice trailed off, and I was dumbfounded. I, Cedric the Bumbling, Bed Sick, Red Brick, Not Quick Cedric, was a Duke. A sovereign Duke. Lord Silva. Lord Cedric of Silva.

Duchess Sofia of Silva. Maybe it was enough. Maybe I was enough.

No, no one was good enough, but it was better than I could have dreamed five minutes previously.

"So now, son. I expect a wedding soon. Your mother is already bothering you about grandchildren, and it will only get worse, but take my advice and wait a bit. If you managed to get through the first Heat without..."

"Two. Two Heats." I answered mechanically, still in shock.

He paused, clearly flustered. "My goodness, son, your restraint is to be honored. Bravo. But much more of that and don't you think she is going to feel terribly rejected? If her body has put her through two heats, and she's not even seen two decades of life, she must really be calling to you, son. Don't you think her heart must be involved, as well as her hormones?"

I nodded, slowly, and sank into a chair, lost in thought. I didn't even notice when Father left, my brain was whirling in circles. Then there was a knock at the door, and I started awake. Was it Sofia? What should I do?

I ran to the door and opened it hard enough for it to slam into the wall behind with a resounding thud. But it was not Sofia, alas. It was Baileywick.

"Cedric. The Queen is asking for your attendance upon her in her study." He eyes me up and down in distaste. "You might want to make yourself presentable."

The summons from Queen Miranda was not unexpected. If Sofia was showing such clear signs of being a Guardian, it must have come from somewhere, and the Queen must want answers to what was happening to her precious daughter. She also no doubt wanted assurances that whatever I had done to soothe Sofia's "curse", that her daughter was still a virgin suitable for marriage, and that I shouldn't be executed for defiling the kingdom's beloved jewel. "I'll be right down." I took pleasure, as I always did, in slamming the door in that prick Steward's face.

I spelled my beard away and cleaned and dressed myself, making proliferate use of grooming spells to use up my nervous energy. When I was this anxious, goddess knows what bumbling mistakes I could make, but grooming spells were so ingrained I could do them in my sleep.

The Queen's study was filled with light, even in winter, with a warm fire at the hearth and sturdy but beautiful furniture. It was as naturally elegant as the Queen herself. I stepped in the room to have Baileywick huff indignantly behind me and shut the door with a thud, leaving me apparently trapped inside with a wide eyed Sofia. And only Sofia. Beautiful, brilliant, and uncharacteristically melancholy – I wanted to stride across the room and pull her into my arms and never, ever let her go.

Instead, I stepped back, plastering myself to the door like an idiot. "Did you do this? You know the King will kill me if he finds me alone with you after what happened."

She frowned at me, a wrinkle slicing her brow that I wanted to kiss away, the thought hitting me so hard my heart ached with it. "No, I didn't send for you. Mom sent for me. What are you doing here?" Her voice held concern and disappointment and sadness, and I wanted it all to go away. I wanted her happy and whole. Why is it that doing the noble thing, the right thing, seemed to make Sofia even more miserable?

"Your mother sent for me. I thought she had questions about...about what happened the other night."

"She probably does. She hasn't asked me anything, though I've been half insensible for the past two days." She did look tired and wan, but still the loveliest thing in my universe. My nose told me the Heat had finally passed. She wore a lavender gown, reminding me only slightly of the gowns she wore as a child. This was a simple day dress, with few petticoats but made with the finest of muslins. It was a dress for comfort, and she looked breathtaking in it.

I stared at her, the woman I loved more than anything else in the world. Her blue eyes held mine with such a sad love shining in them that I felt like I was drowning in it, and words came pouring out of me as I thrashed to keep my head above water. "I wanted to trap you, you know. As a female Guardian and a wolf at that, you are shockingly rare and valuable. To have you as my mate would have raised my prestige to new heights, above and beyond taking over Enchancia.

"Yes, you know that I was after your Amulet for years. That I wanted to rule. That when I first knew you I had no respect as a sorcerer from my father, no responsibilities to the forest. I wanted to claim what I thought was my right, my power. You taught me to see things differently. You taught me to be happier with what I had, with what I could make and do and be myself.

"So of course I wanted you. I wanted you to keep making me better. .But then I realized I wasn't giving you a choice. You have a right to real happiness. And there is little chance that happiness could be me. I'm just who you are used to." I closed my eyes and turned away, unable to bear to see the disappointment that must be roiling in Sofia by now.

Well, I was wrong about that. She shouted at me, loud enough that the walls seemed to ring with her fervor. "I love you! Can't you see that you've already given me a choice?" I turned to stare at her, awe filling me to hear those words from her. But she went on, "Just acknowledging that I have a choice, that you or Mom or Dad can't decide for me, that I have my own needs and desires, you've already given me a choice. But you make all of that go away if you don't let me make the choice I want and let me choose you!" Her eyes flashed like blue fire, and her voice rung with such conviction. I wanted to believe her, so very much. I stepped forward and she stepped toward me, ready for an embrace, for acceptance, for completion, when the door open and Queen Miranda stepped inside.

"Very good, you are both here. I'm certain you have questions."

Sofia and I both blinked at her, dropping our arms and stepping away from each other nervously. Sofia regained her voice first. "Why would we have questions, Mom? Don't you want to know what happened the other night? Why Cedric would..."

"You must have gone into Heat, Sofia. It's clear that Cedric must be your mate, so it would make sense that you would need him then."

We both stared at her, eyes wide. "Your majesty, you knew that Sofia was….that I was….I...I can assure you that I did nothing to the princess that is….permanent. She is still a maiden. I just treated, I tried…."

Queen Miranda arched an eyebrow at me. "Your restraint should be commended, Cedric. I assumed that this discussion would be on how to explain to Rollie that the two of you would need to be married with all haste. Now we have some time to do things properly." She sat down primly on the plum color sofa and reached for the tea service on the small table at the center of the room.

"Mom! How did you know?" Sofia was red as a tomato, her blush extending all the way down the décolletage of her lavender dress. She looked good enough to eat.

Queen Miranda sighed, and finished pouring cups of tea. "I should have told you all of this long ago, Sofia. But Birk was always so convinced that you weren't like him, that you couldn't be – girls just didn't survive if they were like him." She handed a cup of tea to Sofia, and then to me. Perfectly made the way I liked it. I had no idea the Queen knew me half so well.

Sofia sank into a chair with her cup and took a sip of her tea out of reflex. "Mom – was my father, was he like me? A Guardian?"

"Somewhat. He claimed he did not make a good Guardian, that no one from his family did. He could become a wolf, though he Changed very rarely. Said he was scared his family would find him if he did. Freezenburg is not a good place to be a wolf, apparently. But it's not just from your father. You never got to meet my Abuelita Esmerelda. Do you remember the stories I would tell you about her?

Conversation continued on, and part of me was listening. But another part was utterly focused on the word "Freezenburg".

"You named me after her, my middle name at least. You told me she loved the forest in Galdiz. That she thought she talked with animals and loved them more than people sometimes." Sofia smiled softly.

Miranda nodded. "There was a good reason for that. She was a Guardian – though in Galdiz they were apparently very rare and misunderstood. She kept it a secret, and married a man who didn't ask her many questions. Your grandmother and I can not change, but I can still feel the pull of the moon on occasion. Your father told me that's why we were a good fit. Not quite real Guardians, but happy with our lot."

"But why didn't you tell me earlier, Mom? You've never talked very much about my father. I never pushed, I didn't want to make you sad, but this was important! My father could change into a wolf! I've known I was different since I was fourteen, and if it wasn't for Cedric's training me I would have gone crazy. What would you have done then?"

Queen Miranda pursed her lips into a smile that was both rueful and amused. "It was simply that between your own natural maturity and Cedric's secret trainings," her eyes flicked toward me with a touch of rebuke and I finally sat with a thump on another chair at Sofia's side, tea sloshing into my saucer. The Queen continued, "It was as though you were more like me – I never thought you were being so affected. It was only very recently that I began to suspect, but you never seemed out of control, not until the other night. Cedric has taught you very well."

I sat a little straighter, and sipped my tea, my brain still swimming through molasses to catch up with the strangeness of this conversation.

"But if I had needed to explain, if you were truly in trouble, I knew there were other Guardians in the world. If worse came to worse, I could always speak with King Henrik, and he could help me find Birk's family."

I finally shook out of my stupor at this explanation. "Henrik of Freezenburg? Why him? You are certain that Sofia's father said he was from Freezenburg?"

She raised an elegant eyebrow and for once I could see the resemblance between Sofia and her mother. "I should think I would know where my husband said his family was from. He told me there was a long history of wolves in the Freezenburg, and Sofia's father was one of them. He seemed to fear talk of his family, and discouraged me from ever contacting them to try for a reconciliation, but I had learned enough before Birk's death that I felt I could turn to them if Sofia truly needed help. It would be better than losing her to madness."

"I'm not so certain of that. There was once many wolves in Freezenburg, but for the last generation there has been only one left alive. Melker, the Royal Sorcerer of Freezenburg. I would not ask him for help, for he would be most likely to help you right into a grave." Or worse. I repressed a shudder at the thought of a young Sofia in the hands of Melker. The name brought nothing but revulsion to any decent Guardian. The woods of Freezenburg were a horror of darkness and viciousness, and a long line of Guardians had been corrupted into pawns and then nearly made extinct by a member of their own family.

Miranda grew concerned. "Truly? But Birk said that he was a younger son with no prospects, no lands to Guard, so he left in search of new opportunities. He fell in love with the sea, and with Galdiz, and made his home in my fishing village when I was just a child." She blushed softly. "I knew him for years before he got up the nerve to court me. He thought he was too old for me."

Sofia gave me a smug little look, as though this meant anything other than there was a history of dirty old men interested in the women in Sofia's ancestral line.

"Still, I can ask my father, but I am quite sure there is only one line of wolf Guardians in Freezenburg, and that is the Royal Family."

Miranda looked shocked at this, as did Sofia, who responded. "What?" she chirped, her voice as high as when she was a child. "Royal Family? Hildegard and Astrid are Guardians?"

I put down my cold cup of tea and massaged my temples. This was giving me a headache. "Those two – no. But in the past, their great uncles...it's a long story. For centuries, there was a tradition that whatever sons the Royal Family produced, one would become the Crown Prince, and another would train to become Royal Sorcerer. What was truly happening was there was almost always one son who carried the ability to Change in his blood, but who could not Change themselves, and one son who was a Guardian. The Guardian became Sorcerer, and the carrier the Prince, and thus the King. It was a system that worked well. Guardians have always avoided holding the Kingship itself, as it was thought to cause too many risks if the people discovered their ability to Change."

Sofia cleared her throat at this, giving me a look of amused chastisement. My own previous ambitions notwithstanding. I went on, "Yes, well, that is probably true. But, really, that system did work for centuries, until Melker was made Royal Sorcerer some two hundred years ago."

"Two hundred years! But you spoke of Melker as though he was still alive. Is it a descendent?"

"No, he is the same man. Melker the Menacing has been the Royal Sorcerer of Freezenburg for a very, very long time. And there has never been another wolf to survive into adulthood in the Freezenburg Royal line to take his place."

Sofia and Miranda both gasped. I could see that Miranda grasped the implications quickly, but Sofia just saw the tragedy. "Oh, how sad. Such a terrible blow to the family."

I hated to disabuse her of her innocence on matters such as this, but it was important. "There have been sons born to the kings of Freezenburg who most likely could change, but each one became an apprentice to Melker, and then died in tragic 'accidents'."

Miranda blurted out, "Oh Gods, that's what he meant!"

Sofia and I both looked at her in concern, and the Queen swallowed heavily before continuing. "Sofia, your father only spoke of his family rarely. He said that there were more than enough sons, and that he wished his brothers all the best, but he feared for his own safety since he couldn't measure up to the exactly standards of the 'family business'. I thought he meant that he wasn't cut out for being a gameskeeper or forest Guardian, since he loved the sea so much. But, but..."

"How old was your first husband, my queen?" I asked.

She bit her lip. "I'm not really sure. He seemed to be one of those men who never really changed, he just weathered a bit from time spent on the water, but...I know my grandmother was very very old when she passed. I never really knew how old."

Sofia spoke up then, her voice uncharacteristically timid, "I remember from my history lessons on Enchancia that we had to study all the royal ancestral lines. Father's grandmother was a princess of Freezenburg. She had two sisters and three brothers. There was a note in the pages of the peerage book that the Freezenburg house normally did not produce so many offspring and it was considered a sign of the strength of the monarchy to have had so many children, and an honor to Enchancia to have such a princess made Queen."

"That would have been at least a hundred years ago." I flicked my wand, and a book appeared. I'm glad that I had managed to sort through all the books in my library in trying to distract myself from Sofia's Heat, so it was an easy job to call the right one to me. Guardians were scattered few and far between, and so records of all the families were treasured, kept safe and kept as accurately as possible. I paged through the listings for Freezenburg for the last few decades, "There were only girls after Henrik."

Sofia whispered under her breadth, "Hildegarde said she had an aunt. And her sister of course, Astrid."

I barreled on, reading as fast as I could aloud. "Born before Henrik, his brother Hans Joseph had no marriage, nofamily, no dates – not even a date of death. And for Henrik's parents generation, Hans Henrik had no brothers. Henrik's grandfather Charles Joseph had had two brothers and three sisters recorded, one older brother – another Henrik who had disappeared from the records with no children listed, and a younger brother, Hans Birgin."

"Birgin!" Miranda shouted. "Birk...he said that his mother used to call him that. I thought it was an endearment!"

Sofia, quick as always. "So, my father was a prince." She chuckled. "How ironic. He tried to escape that life, and I ended up back in the thick of it."

"I don't think he was trying to escape being a royal, my love." I winced at the endearment that escaped, my eyes flickering to Miranda who seemed to stunned by events to notice what I had said, so I went on. "I know he was trying to escape Melker, his great-great-great...oh I don't know, his uncle several times removed. Melker sliced through that family like butter. He's been threatened by other Guardian households, but no one has wanted to offend the nation of Freezenburg by declaring open challenge. This is why it is a bad idea for Guardians to be so closely tied by blood to the royal family."

"Good thing most people think I'm a peasant princess and not in the line of succession." Sofia chirped.

"Sofia! What a thing to say!"

"Mom, I'm going to keep reminding Cedric as often as possible that there is no reason except for his own stubbornness and lack of self-confidence preventing us from being together. He is my mate, if he ever accepts that."

My mouth was still open, my brain trying to generate a response, when Baileywick's clear knock sounded at the door. "Your majesty? There is an unscheduled visit by a large diplomatic party from Freezenburg. The King is out touring the recent storm damage in Summerset. Will you meet with them, milady?"

We all froze. This was no mere coincidence. Miranda turned white with fear, and Sofia red with anger. She sprang to her feet and began to pace, her arms gesticulating wildly. "Of all the times – Hildegard asked me if I was a Guardian. I suppose they want me to marry some stray cousin or something. I am not a brood mare! I will marry the man I love or I will find my own stretch of forest somewhere in the world to protect and stay an old maid for the next century!" She came to a stop directly in front of me and stared straight at me, as though daring me to contradict her.

I was not amused – well, perhaps I was a little amused. She was right. If she did engage in such madness, I would track her down and beg her to come back to me. I could feel it, deep in my bones. In truth, I felt a little drunk, like champagne bubbles were percolating through my mind, and there was some kind of epiphany that would occur once they all popped. But all I could really think of at the moment was how much I wanted to grab her hips, pull her into my lap and kiss her until she was growling with pleasure and need for me, and all of her sadness and anger forgotten.

Baileywick coughed slightly, and Miranda came back to her senses, standing. "Yes, of course Baileywick. We do need to meet this delegation straight away. I'll have to change into more formal dress, of course. This sounds serious. Have them shown into the Throne Room and I shall be there in a moment." She turned to face us. "I assume the two of you would be willing to attend as well once you are properly dressed and...equipped?"

We both nodded.

If there was any time for the Family Wand, it was now.

The Queen left with the Steward, and I gave in to my instincts, grabbing Sofia by handfuls of lavender muslin and pulling her toward me. She managed a graceful sidesaddle mount of my bony knees and fell eagerly into my embrace, and I kissed her, desperate and messy and terrified.

I had lived in so much denial, so much false honor and suffering. But there was no way that I would give up Sofia to another man. And more importantly, I realized that there was no way that she would willingly go with any other man. She was mine, and I would fight for her, tooth and claw.