Cursed by Darkness (Once Upon A Curse)

17. Bodin

SEVENTEEN

Bodin

In his distraction of trying to console his sister, Eryx hadn’t realized Theran was watching. He’d always watched them in envy, not understanding their close bond. No matter how much she insisted she loved them both equally, Theran knew the truth. She would choose Eryx every time. And so, he made it his mission to destroy them both.

Everyone would fear the God of Light and his people.

T his wasn’t supposed to happen. Bodin had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t touch Juniper except to try to make an heir when she was ready, that he wouldn’t fall for her. And yet, he couldn’t stop. She’d listened to him talk about his first wife, had gone into the village to help their people without balking, and the way she seemed to see him better than anyone ever had… It destroyed the last defenses he’d built around his heart.

It was honestly concerning how perfect she was, how much he cared about her so quickly. How easy it was to forget that she was never meant to be his when she stared up at him with those big green eyes like she was now, waiting with anticipation.

He knew she was nervous, but he also saw the desire in her gaze that matched his own. When she told him she wanted this, he couldn’t refuse her. Not when she was trusting him this much. Not when they’d been interrupted last week and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her touch since.

Bodin had almost slipped up earlier though when he told her that he’d never walked someone through this before. He almost told her the reason was because with Camille, it had been the first time for both of them. They had learned together. And Beatrice was more experienced when they got married years later.

Juniper might have been understanding most of the time about hearing his past wives’ names, but he wasn’t foolish enough to mention them in this moment. Regardless of the context, he wanted this time to be just about the two of them.

Nodding more to himself than her, Bodin reached for the short hem of her shift that had taunted him—just as the slits in the dresses she’d worn the past few weeks had. He kept his eyes on her face, watching for any sign that she’d changed her mind and didn’t want this as he slowly pushed the fabric up around her waist to expose her undergarments. Juniper bit into her lower lip, and he wanted to lean down and kiss her, tug that lip out with his own teeth.

So, he did. Her smile softened when he pulled away again, as if she understood the realization that they didn’t have to hold back anymore. He’d seen the same look when she ran her hand through his hair before.

“May I?” he asked, reaching for her pantalettes.

Juniper swallowed and whispered, “Yes.”

He hadn’t brought her here for this specific reason. The plan had been to explain how the portals worked, but that could wait. Right now, he just wanted to feel his wife coming undone by his touch.

Bodin took a deep breath and hooked his fingers into the pantalettes. As he tugged the fabric down, not bothering with the ties, he was certain neither of them were breathing any longer. Once she was bare before him, he took a second to appreciate her. She started to move, to squeeze her legs together, but he shook his head and returned his thumb to the apex of her thighs. He rubbed small, gentle circles around it before running his finger up and down her slit.

“Bo,” she said with a soft gasp. He loved his name coming out of that beautiful mouth. He wanted to hear her moaning it, screaming it out in pleasure. Lowering to lie between her legs, he replaced his fingers with his tongue, and she sucked in a breath—which was easily becoming his new favorite sound. Then, she spread her thighs a little wider.

Smiling against her, he continued working her up. As her breaths grew more ragged, his tongue found her entrance, tasting her sweetness. She moaned when he pressed into her a little harder.

“Bodin.” Her back arched as he returned to licking her clit and slowly pushed a finger into her wetness. She writhed under him, panting and moaning with each pump in and out, deeper and deeper. Her hand went to his head and gripped his hair. The scrape of her fingernails against his scalp sent a shiver through him, making his hard cock twitch. Holding him to her, she said, “Goddess above. I—I can’t—Oh fuck.”

He chuckled at her foul language. “Let go for me, Juniper,” he said against her, not wanting to stop.

Her hips bucked, and he put his free hand on her abdomen to keep her in place as he added a second finger and quickened his movements, sucking on that sensitive bundle of nerves.

“Bo!” She screamed, pulsing around his fingers as she fell over the edge. He slowed down, guiding her through the spasms. Never would he have judged her for being with another person in the past, but a sense of pride bloomed in his heart knowing he’d been the first to touch her this way. The first to hear those incredible sounds and get her to come.

But when he lifted his head to look at her, he froze, fingers still buried inside her, as he took in his exquisite, radiant wife. Because she was more than radiant. She was glowing.

Literally.

At first, he thought it was because of the luminescent cave walls, but this was different. A pale light gleamed from her body.

He withdrew his hand and scrambled back onto his knees, ignoring how hard he was. Her eyes were closed, one palm on her chest as she tried to steady her breathing. Noticing his absence, she opened them and raised up on her elbows. Then, she looked down and her jaw dropped. She bolted upright into a sitting position and crossed her arms, hugging herself.

Shaking her head, she said, “No. No, no, no, no.”

“You’re—”

“No!” She yanked her undergarments back into place when he stood. “I swear, Bo, that’s not?—”

His head reeled. “You have Lumen magic.”

She pushed to her feet. “Yes, but it’s not?—”

Everything seemed to click into place. The final pieces of the puzzle, found at last. “This is why after so long of being hidden away, your father waited to push you into my arms,” Bodin said, grabbing his clothes. He furiously wiped his fingers and face with the sleeve of his jacket before yanking his pants and shirt on.

“It’s why I was hidden away, yes.” Juniper’s voice wavered. “But it has nothing to do with?—”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe you weren’t sent in as a spy? Are you even really the princess?”

Tears rimmed her eyes. The glow to her skin was gone now, leaving only a flush from their previous activities. “Of course I’m the princess.”

Memories assaulted him from the past. His brother playing with a little girl, the daughter of a maid who came with the royal family fifteen years ago. Bodin had watched them showing each other their magic—Elias playing with his shadows and the girl swiping through them with glowing white hands. Their laughter echoing through the air.

“It was you,” he whispered. She’d told him that very first day that she’d stayed with a maid to conceal her true identity. Was that why?

“What?”

Throwing the soiled jacket aside, he clenched his fists. He’d return for it later. “So, your father is working with Gilarn? This alliance is a lie. That’s why he wasn’t willing to send more troops to aid us. After all this time, he finally chose a side, and he picked them?”

“No,” she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Please stop.”

“Or what? You’ll use it against me?” A twinge of guilt flashed through him, but he refused to acknowledge it. Especially when his kingdom was in danger.

“I don’t know how to use it. And you know as well as I do that light magic cannot do harm.” Her tone hardened, and she raised her chin. Brushing away the dampness from her face, she started putting her dress back on. “Regardless, I don’t know how to control it or where it comes from.”

“It comes from Gilarn!” He hadn’t even realized he’d moved closer until she took a step away. The fear in her glare made him halt. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He would not lose his temper because of this. Because somehow, his enemy had slipped into his home.

And into his heart.

He took a few more deep, steadying breaths to calm the darkness swirling within.

“Bo, please,” Juniper said, lifting a hand in front of her. “I am not a spy, nor am I from Gilarn.”

“Why in the hells should I believe you?”

“Because I’m your wife,” she snapped right back at him. “Because I went down into the village and helped you care for your— our —people. Because you saw me write letters to my father and brother begging him to send more soldiers to the front lines and surrounding areas.”

Bodin took a step away, then another. He knew her points were valid, and yet… “Your skin was glowing, June. Lumen magic only comes from Gilarn.”

Another thought hit him, nearly making him fall to his knees.

His father started this war because it was a Gilarnian assassin who killed Elias. He’d questioned the man until the killer admitted that he’d been sent by the royal family from the north, but what if… What if it had been Juniper’s father?

“Which is why my parents hid me,” she continued, oblivious to his inner revelations. “They feared for my life because that is what everyone believes.” She scoffed. “Because it’s not remotely possible that an ancestor came from there and passed it down?”

He crossed his arms. “For it to be that strong, it has to come directly from a parent or grandparent. If you had any sort of real education, you would know that.”

Juniper reared as if he’d slapped her. Mirroring his stance, she crossed her own arms and walked closer, her anger clearly overcoming her fear. “You know what the best part of being locked away for fifteen years was? I had all the time in the world to read . I have read thousands of books, Your Majesty , so don’t you dare tell me I’m uneducated.”

Leaning in, he said, “Thousands of books, and yet you know nothing of sex? You thought your desire was something to be ashamed of and that women hated being with their husbands, so forgive me if I don’t trust that you know much of how the real world works.”

She opened her mouth, as if to argue, but he wasn’t done.

“You have all this knowledge, but you don’t even know that you are why this godsdamned war restarted.” He tugged her around to lace up her dress. It wasn’t done well, but it would get her back to her room without causing more of a scene. Despite being furious, he couldn’t do that to her. “Or did you think it was a coincidence that you were locked up right after my brother was murdered? Right before my father declared war?”

Juniper ripped away and whirled to face him. “What are you talking about? I was six years old; how could I have had anything to do with?—”

“Your family came here so that our fathers could sign a betrothal agreement.”

Her eyes widened. With a hand on her chest, she took a step back. “We were always supposed to get married?”

Bodin let out an unamused laugh. “No, Juniper. You were supposed to marry Elias.” He stepped closer. “My brother was so excited to meet you, so when we were told you didn’t come, he was devastated. He ran off and went to hide, but then, he met a little girl, the daughter of a maid.”

She shook her head, eyes welling with tears.

A part of him knew he was being unfair, but he couldn’t stop. He’d held this in for too long. “He met a little girl with Lumen magic, and they became friends.”

“Stop,” Juniper whispered.

“For days, they played and laughed together, sharing their different forms of magic. But then, a couple of days before the Forossan envoy was to depart, Elias was killed.” By a poisoned dagger meant for me. “And he never would have been in that situation if he hadn’t been sneaking around with his new friend, escaping from his guards.”

Juniper looked on the verge of fainting. “But?—”

“No. I’m done.” He turned on his heel and headed toward the portal door. “Laurent will be waiting to escort you to our rooms when you’re ready to leave,” he said over his shoulder.

Quickening his pace, he rushed away from his wife before she could respond. He didn’t know what to think or believe about her magic or the connection to Gilarn. Once he reached the round room of doors, he didn’t stop. He raced up the stairs, only to come face to face with Juniper’s head guard.

The man who should have been there to save Elias.

“Your Majesty, is everything all right?” Richard looked him up and down before glancing behind Bodin. “Where is Ju—Queen Juniper?”

He gathered his composure as best as he could. Samuel stood nearby, so he quietly said to Richard, “She’s in the fifth portal. Please wait for her to be finished. I have business to attend to.”

The man nodded but seemed wary. “Is something wrong, sire?”

“Not at all.” Bodin didn’t wait for him to ask more. He stepped around Richard and motioned for Samuel to come with him as he made his way to the corridor that led to the main foyer of the palace. “Do you know where Laurent is?”

“I think he was meeting with a lord from one of the mountain villages in a council chamber to talk about rebuilding. They’re still struggling after a similar attack.”

Bodin sighed. “Has the prisoner spoken?”

When Samuel hesitated, Bodin paused his trek. His guard nodded. “You were right. He wasn’t a soldier. They were part of Umbra.”

“They weren’t from Gilarn,” the king said with a groan and took off once more. He had suspected the truth after Juniper asked him about the attack one night. She’d questioned why so few soldiers would try to take down their biggest city. And he admitted he’d been thinking the same. But to hear it confirmed…

Bodin wasn’t sure he had it in him to handle his wife’s betrayal, a possible enemy on another front, and a group of rebels trying to cause strife in their own kingdom. Not by himself, at least.

He found Laurent sitting at the long wooden table at the center of the second checked room with a few other men and women. His friend looked up when they entered. Bodin tried to hide his emotions, but his friend appeared to see through the shield as usual. Laurent stood and excused himself. Keeping calm, he approached Bodin and directed him into the hall.

Bodin waved Samuel away, needing privacy.

“What’s wrong?” Laurent asked the moment they were mostly alone.

“She’s Gilarnian.” Bodin leaned against the nearest wall.

“What?” His brow furrowed.

Running a hand through his hair, Bodin realized he hadn’t tied it up again. It probably looked like a mess from her fingers tangling in it. “I need you to go get Juniper from the portals and escort her to our rooms. Without causing a scene, put more guards at the doors to?—”

“ Juni is Gilarnian?” he hissed. “What the fuck? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.” Bodin sighed and tilted his head toward the arched ceiling high above them. “Please just… just make sure she gets to our rooms and doesn’t leave. I need to talk to her, but I can’t right now.”

Laurent put a hand on his arm. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you,” Bodin whispered as his friend walked away. Inhaling deeply, he straightened and strode in the opposite direction. He needed space and time to think about everything, to figure out how to deal with this and learn the truth. He made it to his study and shut the door behind him before sliding to the floor.

He couldn’t do this again. His heart was shattering in his chest, threatening to stop his lungs entirely. Burying his head in his hands, he cursed himself for opening up and letting Juniper in.

How could he have been so foolish?

Had he been so blind?

No. He knew deep down that she hadn’t given any reason for him to doubt her or suspect anything before now.

He’d wanted to keep her away, but he couldn’t. And now, he was stuck in this mess.

Yet, she seemed so genuine. Could she be that good of an actress?

With a long breath in, he began going through what she’d said, the hurt in her eyes. She’d been crying, but was it because of him or because she’d been caught? He desperately wanted to be wrong, to see the truth in her words.

But everything he’d told her had been real. He remembered her. She was connected to all of this. He just needed to figure out how and find out what his father knew.

Perhaps that was what gave him the strength to calm down and push to his feet. He had to read through the treaty again to see if this could be used against him, and he had to get his father’s personal journals. It was a tradition passed down through his family to keep them and read about their predecessor’s life and choices. However, Bodin had never read his father’s. The sudden loss of his parents and second wife had been too devastating, leaving him feeling hollow save for the grief and survivor’s guilt.

Bodin physically made it through that nightmare with only the scars down his face, but he lost so much more.

And he refused to lose another person.

He would re-read the books on magic to see if it was possible to have a distant relative pass it down, as Juniper had suggested. It wasn’t for Noxian magic, but maybe Lumen was different. Maybe he’d missed something when searching for reasons behind his ability to create portals.

Bodin didn’t think so, but he hoped with everything he had that he was wrong. He prayed to the goddess that his wife was telling the truth and that her father hadn’t allied with Gilarn then used her to get close to Bodin.

He knew it wasn’t really her fault his brother was killed; that blame was on him. But instead of sticking around to help figure out who the assassin worked for, the king fled with his family, claiming he wanted nothing to do with an impending war. The betrothal agreement was burned. That little friend Elias had made disappeared. Juniper disappeared.

Now, he understood why.

His father had immediately outlawed Lumen magic. When he declared war, he enforced the new law by prosecution. If Juniper had stayed, she would have been killed.

Bodin slammed a hand onto his large mahogany desk. His heart tore to shreds in his chest because… that law was still in place.