Author's Note: These are the final chapters of the story. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 16: Aftermath
Fiona awoke, confused to find herself in her bed in the Princess's Tower in the Kype on Terra. She hadn't slept in this bed since... it had been how many cycles since the Autumnal Equinox? She couldn't actually remember. She lay in the bed trying to remember how she had gotten there. She remembered Academy. She remembered it being under attack. She remembered calling on her Land Law Magic and it not responding to her need. She remembered tremendous pain. As she lay in her bed, staring up at the dark purple velvet canopy of her bed, the heavy wood door opened and she heard someone slip into her room. She was aware that her body ached. And she was aware of a feeling of loss. And of a pain that was distant from her.
"Fiona, darling," came her mother's voice. "Are you awake?"
"Yes, mother," Fiona murmured.
"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Maeve sat on the edge of Fiona's bed and placed her cool, dry hand on her daughter's forehead.
"Not well, mama. What happened?"
"Academy... The Kype and the University were attacked by the Empire.... "
"I... I think I remember some. Tam and I were trying to get some children to the Kype from the University. We thought they'd be safer...
"Is Tam okay? The children?"
"Tam... Tam was perfectly okay. He did not pour himself into your ad hoc shield they way that you apparently did. He left you to take the brunt of the attack.
"The only people left alive in the courtyard after the Empire's bombardment were the Duke, Tam, those children, and you.
"Do you remember anything else," Maeve asked gently.
"I remember a great deal of pain. Like nothing I've ever experienced....
"Mama?"
"Yes, child," Maeve gripped her daughter's hand to try to give her some of her own strength.
"I lost my baby, didn't I?"
Maeve didn't respond immediately. Instead she squeezed the hand of her only child in deepest sympathy.
"Yes, child. I'm afraid so."
Fiona began to cry, great body wracking sobs of anguish and loss. Eventually her cries turned to smaller sobs and finally she fell back into a fitful sleep.
***
She dreamed of Jacob. She dreamed of their week together on Citadel. She felt safe wrapped in his strong arms.
"Fiona," his voice was deep with longing. "Beloved."
"Jake?" She sought out his lips with hers. They kissed soft, then hard, then soft again, tongues sliding across each other.
He flipped her over onto her back and his mouth slid down her body.
She felt his lips against hers, urgent kisses in the night, knowing that their time together was short. Her body remembered the feel of Jacob's mouth against her skin, the coarse hair of his beard against her face, her neck, her belly, her inner thighs. She felt his tongue against her damp folds and cried out in her sleep at the pleasure.
"Oh... Jacob...," she murmured in her sleep.
Fiona trembled in her sleep as in her dream Jacob used his mouth to pleasure her. She moaned and rocked her hips and then cried out when her climax rolled over her.
"Fi...," Jacob growled. "I need you."
He reared up over Fiona's body and buried himself into her. She cried out again. Their bodies moved together in an ancient rhythm. Fiona moaned and Jacob grunted. Fiona's body climaxed again and Jacob filled her.
Jacob's large form covered Fiona, his body sheltered hers in his warmth.
"I will protect you, princess," Jacob murmured in her hair.
"I will protect you, Jake," Fiona replied in her sleep and finally fell into restfulness.
***
In his captivity, Jacob was delirious with pain. He felt his consciousness drifting and his mind wandered to a happier time.
He remembered when he was first raised to Squire by William they had spent a lot of time working to negotiate trade agreements with Vanguard. He and the king were talking quietly as the trade team took a mid-morning break from negotiation. A whirlwind of violet silk rushed in and hit the king at the hip hard enough to cause him to take a few steps back to keep his balance.
"Papa! Mama says I can't go into the city without a guard! Captain Kennedy won't assign me one! I must go into the city! Today!"
"Häschen," the king scolded, but his eyes twinkled in amusement, "you can't just barge in here. There is serious work going on. More important than a stroll in the city. How did you get past the guards?"
"That's not important, Papa," the princess said without a trace of contrition in her sweet little girl voice. "What's important is that the bookshop by the King's Fountain is holding a book for me. Captain Kennedy isn't allowing deliveries to the Kype until your negotiations are over. It could be weeks! I can't wait that long!"
"I am sure having to learn to be patient would be good for you, princess," her father responded. The princess stomped a slippered foot and wrung her hands in front of her, her pale plump cheeks coloring with her upset.
"You don't understand, Papa!" she said, tugging the silver braid that reached nearly to the back of her knees over her shoulder. "I don't have anything to read right now. And Mistress Camilla said I can pick out a new piece of music to learn so I need to go and find sheet music. And..." the princess stopped her tirade and fastened her eyes on the floor hoping her father wouldn't notice.
"And?" William asked, grinning. He glanced around the room to see that both his own trade negotiators and the ones from Vanguard watched the princess with undisguised amusement.
"And... Chef says the Ice Cream shop down by the old pier is open for the season. Mama won't let me have ice cream at the Kype because she says I am too chubby." The princess clenched her hands defiantly.
"Your mother is mistaken. You are a perfect example of a healthy Terran girl of your age," the king assured her. "You are only plump in comparison to Aelfir children, Häschen."
"Your Majesty," Jake interrupted, his adolescent voice vacillating between a boyish treble and adult baritone. "I would be happy to take the princess into the city if you can spare me this afternoon. I promised my father I would check on a gift he's having made for my mother for their anniversary. I need to go to the alley of artificers anyway."
"Oh Jake! Thank you thank you thank you!" the princess squeezed Jake so tightly he thought she might break a rib.
"Princess!" the king interjected, trying to get her attention. "If I let Jake take you into the city, you MUST be on your best behavior."
"Of course, Papa," she said, trying to prove she could behave as befit a royal princess.
"And what does 'best behavior' mean, princess?" the king pressed her.
"Following his instructions," she said, ticking off her list on her fingers. "Not running off without him. Not adding to our list of errands. Not begging for more than he agrees to."
